Author Lee Child thinks Amazon will bring James Bond back to its former glories but said the huge deal ‘changes the dynamic’ of who could be cast as the next 007
The writer of smash hit Amazon show Reacher reckons the streaming giant will make ‘worn out’ James Bond a mega hit again, despite fears it’ll lose its British identity.
Brit Lee Child thinks Ian Fleming’s spy has been struggling to stay relevant more than 60 years on from the release of the first film of the series Dr No.
Child, 70, said: “The concept is dated and it needs a shake-up. It needs refreshing. And the people that were looking after it before are just worn out.
“And so new blood, new energy is going to be good for it.”
Last week Amazon’s MGM Studios announced it was taking creative control of the 007 character in a reported £7.5bn deal in which producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson will step back.
Broccoli and Amazon were reportedly in a stand-off over the future direction of Bond with no sign of a follow-up to No Time To Die which ended with the death of Daniel Craig’s character in 2021.
Child’s show – about ex-US Army military police major turned drifter Jack Reacher – has become an Amazon Prime smash with work underway on a fourth series and a spin-off. The author said Amazon will have similar ambitions to produce Bond spin-offs.
“I’m sure that will happen because what Amazon likes to do if they get a hit – they want to dominate the entire year with it,” he said.
“And so we can imagine a big Bond production once every few years and then a lot of Bond origin stories – a Miss Moneypenny spin-off.”
He said the deal has opened the way for a potential unknown to replace Craig as Bond as the streaming giant’s financial muscle meant it did not need to sign an A-lister.
“It doesn’t have to be a huge star because Amazon is the platform,” he said.
“It’s a different financial dynamic. The star doesn’t have to bring the funding. And so it can be anybody.”
Actor Alan Ritchson, 42, who plays Jack Reacher, has admitted he was a Bond fan but found it had become `predictable’.
He told Entertainment Weekly last year: “I love those larger-than-life, over-the-top action thrillers and spy movies and the heists that are smart and ahead of the audience.
“That’s really great. But I feel like Bond, to me personally – people are going to hate me for saying this – I love Bond. But I feel like it’s all a little misogynistic and predictable at this point.”
Charlie Higson, author of nine Young Bond books about a teen spy, said he felt the 007 output had stalled since Craig took over the role for 2006’s Casino Royale.
“As a Bond fan there has been a slight problem in that there hasn’t been enough Bond coming out which means it has slightly slipped from its position if you have to wait four or five years,” he said.
Higson said he hoped his novels would be adapted for TV under Amazon.
“I have no insider information but it’s going to be really exciting to see what happens,” he said.
“It would be lovely if they did consider doing something with my books. It’s the start of a whole new chapter.”
A second series of 007: Road To A Million, the reality show presented by Brian Cox that represents the sole Bond-related project to emerge from Amazon since it acquired MGM in 2022, is due to launch this year.
Timothy Dalton, who played Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill, said he hopes 007 will flourish.
“It is one of the few wonderful stories we’ve got in film that is British,” he said.
Former Bond girl Valerie Leon, 81, who appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me and Never Say Never Again, said she hoped the franchise will not lose its British identity under US ownership.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
