Should we get a new M / Q / Moneypenny for BOND 26 and beyond ?

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  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited November 2022 Posts: 3,152
    Jared Harris could definitely work as Sir Miles Messervy - I can see him as an ex-admiral, for sure. It's probably just me, but I've always thought there was something irretrievably seedy about Gary Oldman, though - wouldn't he be more suited to a slightly dissolute mid-level le Carre character rather than M? Phoebe WB I can actually see as Moneypenny, esp. if she was the one making all the innuendos and Bond was squirming a bit! Colin Salmon would make a very good M if he was new to the series - imagine the meltdowns in head canon for those who couldn't accept the different timeline and tried to reconcile it with his role as Robinson, though! And, given the way things are, I'd imagine that Salmon as M would rule out Sope as Bond and vice versa. Glad I'm not the one having to weigh all this up at EON!
  • Jordo007Jordo007 Merseyside
    Posts: 2,641
    I have faith in EON to nail the choices of the supporting cast. I think they nearly everybody in the Daniel era was well cast and I'm sure they'll do it again
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    Agreed, Jordo - I don't think they made a single casting mis-step in Dan's era.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,547
    Personally I think Tanner was glaringly miscast in the Craig era, but that's it. No fault of Rory Kinnear who did well with what he was given.
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    edited November 2022 Posts: 5,970
    I think the writing is more of a problem with Tanner than casting but at the same what can you really do with Tanner in narratives where you've got more than enough characters to explore as well as the MI6 regulars?
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    True, enough. Would it really have made much of a difference if EON had followed the Sony execs' suggestion to combine Tanner's and Moneypenny's roles in SP and have Naomi play it all?
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,547
    Venutius wrote: »
    True, enough. Would it really have made much of a difference if EON had followed the Sony execs' suggestion to combine Tanner's and Moneypenny's roles in SP and have Naomi play it all?

    I agree, this would have been an interesting way to do it.

    I suppose you're right @Denbigh about the writing being the problem rather than the casting, but even with better writing, I can't really imagine Kinnear being good friends with Craig in the service. Maybe it's just me.
  • Posts: 4,139
    Rory Kinnear is genuinely a marvellous actor, as much as I wasn't a fan of his Tanner.

    I'd argue there's dramatic potential with Tanner, and ideally we'd get to see a similar relationship that the two men had in the novels. Maybe have a similar backstory to Forever and A Day in which Tanner is partially the reason why Bond is a 00.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,547
    Agreed on all counts. Don't mean to disparage Kinnear at all.
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    edited November 2022 Posts: 5,970
    I've always thought it'd be interesting to have Bond and Q be around the same age and explore the more brotherly dynamic that I guess is usually kept for Tanner. I mean we've had an older Q and a younger Bond as well as a younger Q and an older Bond, so why not try this as a way to shake up the dynamic?

    Though I suppose if you were to go down that route, there'd be no need for Tanner, seeing as his more official duties, as @Venutius suggested, could be given to Moneypenny. The only way around it really is if they made Tanner a really small part again like they did with Kinnear, maybe with a slightly different dynamic, and then hired an actor who we don't feel is being wasted.
  • Agent_Zero_OneAgent_Zero_One Ireland
    Posts: 554
    I like the idea of expanding Tanner's role and leaving Q Branch in the shadows.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,629
    I like the idea of expanding Tanner's role and leaving Q Branch in the shadows.
    007HallY wrote: »
    Rory Kinnear is genuinely a marvellous actor, as much as I wasn't a fan of his Tanner.

    I'd argue there's dramatic potential with Tanner, and ideally we'd get to see a similar relationship that the two men had in the novels. Maybe have a similar backstory to Forever and A Day in which Tanner is partially the reason why Bond is a 00.

    Ditto. Same to Felix Leiter. Skyfall proved it could work with M. Hopefully, Tanner and Leiter will be more sympathetic then M.
  • LucknFateLucknFate 007 In New York
    edited November 2022 Posts: 1,646
    I'd almost prefer our next Bond is introduced with an ex who's something of a close friend still, like Sylvia Trench perhaps, before we did anything with a housekeeper. I'm not sure how many people can relate to Bond having May around. Then again, a housekeeper makes sense for someone who's likely rarely home...

    How would we feel if the next Bond-Moneypenny dynamic heavily suggested they had already had something of an intimate affair in the past and decided to professionally move on, but still play around with the idea etc.? I always thought Brosnan seemed a little green around Samantha Bond in GoldenEye, though the chemistry improved after.

    Having Bond and MP formerly hook up seems like a modern interpretation of the office secretary feigning after him. In today's day and age, what's stopping them...
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,028
    I think anything is possible once we accept that the next Bond movie is a whole new timeline and none of the known characters reapear in their previous roles.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,547
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    I think anything is possible once we accept that the next Bond movie is a whole new timeline and none of the known characters reapear in their previous roles.

    Exactly. My last thoughts on Tanner: he's a valuable character in the stories because he allows Bond to communicate how he really feels about things happening with MI6 I think. If anything, the Craig era combined the roles of M and Tanner; M became a sort of friend to Bond as well as employer, and he had no problem telling M what he really thought of things... I'd like to back to a place where Bond has only respect for M and would never talk back to him, and is able to air his true thoughts through his friend Tanner.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    LucknFate wrote: »
    In today's day and age, what's stopping them...
    The HR department, probably. ;)
  • Agent_Zero_OneAgent_Zero_One Ireland
    Posts: 554
    LucknFate wrote: »
    I'd almost prefer our next Bond is introduced with an ex who's something of a close friend still, like Sylvia Trench perhaps, before we did anything with a housekeeper. I'm not sure how many people can relate to Bond having May around. Then again, a housekeeper makes sense for someone who's likely rarely home...

    How would we feel if the next Bond-Moneypenny dynamic heavily suggested they had already had something of an intimate affair in the past and decided to professionally move on, but still play around with the idea etc.? I always thought Brosnan seemed a little green around Samantha Bond in GoldenEye, though the chemistry improved after.

    Having Bond and MP formerly hook up seems like a modern interpretation of the office secretary feigning after him. In today's day and age, what's stopping them...
    Lois Maxwell came up with a backstory like that IIRC.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,547
    May doesn't need to be in any Bond films. I hate to open this can of worms again, but like Bond's whiteness, May would probably only have been written into whatever stories because it made sense at the time for a person like Bond to have a housekeeper. Completely incidental.
  • edited November 2022 Posts: 4,139
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    I think anything is possible once we accept that the next Bond movie is a whole new timeline and none of the known characters reapear in their previous roles.

    Exactly. My last thoughts on Tanner: he's a valuable character in the stories because he allows Bond to communicate how he really feels about things happening with MI6 I think. If anything, the Craig era combined the roles of M and Tanner; M became a sort of friend to Bond as well as employer, and he had no problem telling M what he really thought of things... I'd like to back to a place where Bond has only respect for M and would never talk back to him, and is able to air his true thoughts through his friend Tanner.

    So in a sense Tanner/Bond's relationship would be more akin to an older/younger brother respectively with M as a sort of authoritative parental figure in that scenario?

    That'd be interesting. Actually not necessarily something we've seen in the films before with Tanner's role in this. Very different to the Craig era too.
  • edited November 2022 Posts: 784
    I'd much rather Tanner have his own mini plot trying to find a mole in MI6, and the answer not being outrageously obvious like in SP.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited November 2022 Posts: 6,297
    I'd rather have Tanner having a drink with Bond, explaining something about M that relates to the mission at hand (kind of like they briefly did in GE? "Evil queen of numbers").

    GE *got* Tanner in one line whereas QoS-NTTD muddled through many scenes.
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    Posts: 5,970
    Speaking of Tanner, did anyone know that Rory Kinnear is the godson of Judi Dench's late husband?
  • Posts: 4,139
    Denbigh wrote: »
    Speaking of Tanner, did anyone know that Rory Kinnear is the godson of Judi Dench's late husband?

    His Dad was also the actor who played Veruca Salt's Father in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.

    Typical British film industry nepotism... but interesting nonetheless.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited November 2022 Posts: 7,547
    echo wrote: »
    I'd rather have Tanner having a drink with Bond, explaining something about M that relates to the mission at hand (kind of like they briefly did in GE? "Evil queen of numbers").

    GE *got* Tanner in one line whereas QoS-NTTD muddled through many scenes.

    Exactly.
    007HallY wrote: »
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    I think anything is possible once we accept that the next Bond movie is a whole new timeline and none of the known characters reapear in their previous roles.

    Exactly. My last thoughts on Tanner: he's a valuable character in the stories because he allows Bond to communicate how he really feels about things happening with MI6 I think. If anything, the Craig era combined the roles of M and Tanner; M became a sort of friend to Bond as well as employer, and he had no problem telling M what he really thought of things... I'd like to back to a place where Bond has only respect for M and would never talk back to him, and is able to air his true thoughts through his friend Tanner.

    So in a sense Tanner/Bond's relationship would be more akin to an older/younger brother respectively with M as a sort of authoritative parental figure in that scenario?

    That'd be interesting. Actually not necessarily something we've seen in the films before with Tanner's role in this. Very different to the Craig era too.

    Yeah, that sums up my thinking pretty well. As above, the closest we came was GoldenEye.
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    edited November 2022 Posts: 5,970
    Overall, I think the hardest characters to change up in terms of dynamic will be M and Tanner.

    With M, there are not many avenues to explore that would feel original. We've had the paternal M, the maternal M, and the more tough-love M. Again with Tanner, you just run the risk of wasting time with him, especially given his role as a brotherly figure to Bond can easily be given to Q or even Felix, with his more professional duties given to Moneypenny.

    I've said this before but I'd love an older Felix who can somewhat act as a paternal figure to Bond outside of MI6, and a younger Q who's the same age as Bond to explore that brotherly dynamic I mentioned above. Both these ideas freshen up both characters in my opinion. With Moneypenny, I feel the best route would be to keep her character somewhat traditional, but maybe change up how and why they flirt with each other.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,028
    My position, although I won't suggest actors for the replacement, remains that a new start with the Bond timeline should exclude all actors (at the very least, in their previous roles) that have been around before. It makes no sense to start anew with the adventures of agent James Bond if his superiors or friends and colleagues are the same that accompanied his previous demise and had a drink on the occasion of his death. It must be clear to the viewer that this is a new generation or timeline. Just keep the future Bond free from what happened to any of the previous ones.

    Unless, of course, one consciously starts a period-piece of Bond movies based on the novels, and taking place in the 1950s and 1960s. Then, I guess, you could remake every movie true to the Fleming novels and maybe even the post-Fleming ones, since it should be obvious to the audience that that is not the same Bond who just died around 2020. I, for one, would be delighted to see a series of movies of that kind.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,571
    Clean slate, but keep the tradition of one previous MI6 employee returning.

    Elize du Toit (Vanessa, M's assistant in SF) - but this time as Moneypenny.
  • SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷ Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria
    edited November 2022 Posts: 2,016
    One thing I was thinking the other day was, I hope they had Craig's Bond MI6 cast in mind when they were thinking about killing him off, because if they bring back even a member from the cast, the new Bond would seem like a 00 agent during Craig's Bond era promoted to 007 and named James Bond. I would love to have Fiennes and Whishaw back, but because Craig's Bond was killed off, them returning won't really help the status of the next Bond. I don't think Dench would have returned in CR, if Brosnan's Bond was killed off in DAD...even if CR is a prequel.
  • Jordo007Jordo007 Merseyside
    Posts: 2,641
    I love all the MI6 staff from the Craig era but with that being said I do hope it's a clean slate. I think given NTTD's ending we need that.

    If NTTD had a different ending I think Whishaw stays on as Q, because he's loved by everyone
  • Posts: 15,116
    One thing I was thinking the other day was, I hope they had Craig's Bond MI6 cast in mind when they were thinking about killing him off, because if they bring back even a member from the cast, the new Bond would seem like a 00 agent during Craig's Bond era promoted to 007 and named James Bond. I would love to have Fiennes and Whishaw back, but because Craig's Bond was killed off, them returning won't really help the status of the next Bond. I don't think Dench would have returned in CR, if Brosnan's Bond was killed off in DAD...even if CR is a prequel.

    A lot of people outside the fan community got confused all the same because of M casting in CR. "So it's a prequel? Or is James Bond a codename after all?" Whatever they choose to do with the casting, there will be people who wonders why Nomi is not 007 (or Jane Bond) or how Bond survived the events of NTTD.
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