{"id":672070,"date":"2026-11-01T21:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T21:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/672070\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T21:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T21:04:12","slug":"james-bond-franchise-needs-to-be-reinvented-ben-whishaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/672070\/","title":{"rendered":"James Bond franchise \u2018needs to be reinvented\u2019 \u2013 Ben Whishaw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/lifestyle\/artsandculture\/arid-41927990.html\">James Bond<\/a> actor Ben Whishaw has said he thinks the 007 franchise \u201cneeds to be reinvented completely\u201d for its next instalment.<\/p>\n<p>The 46-year-old has starred in three James Bond films alongside Daniel Craig as Q, the quartermaster who heads the MI6 research and development team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">His first appearance was in the 2012 film  Skyfall, and he later featured in  Spectre (2015), before reprising his role a final time in Craig\u2019s last film as the secret agent,  No Time To Die (2021).<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The hunt for the next Bond began in May and is believed to have reached its final stages. It has been speculated that Callum Turner, Jack Lowden, and Josh O\u2019Connor are among the stars reportedly in contention for the 007 role.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In an interview with  The Sunday Times, Whishaw reflected on the future of the franchise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThe world has changed so much since the last Bond film so you have to find what is relevant about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI think it needs to be reinvented completely. But it\u2019s not for me to say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/lifestyle\/celebrity\/arid-41908273.html\">The next Bond film<\/a> is in development, and it was announced last year that Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight would write the script.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/5279058_5_articleinline_10756170-1.jpg\" alt=\"Ben Whishaw as Q, the quartermaster who heads the MI6 research and development team, with Daniel Craig as James Bond in a scene from Spectre (2015). Picture: PA\/Sony\/MGM\/ Danjaq\/LLC\/Columbia\" title=\"Ben Whishaw as Q, the quartermaster who heads the MI6 research and development team, with Daniel Craig as James Bond in a scene from Spectre (2015). Picture: PA\/Sony\/MGM\/ Danjaq\/LLC\/Columbia\" class=\"card-img\"\/>Ben Whishaw as Q, the quartermaster who heads the MI6 research and development team, with Daniel Craig as James Bond in a scene from Spectre (2015). Picture: PA\/Sony\/MGM\/ Danjaq\/LLC\/Columbia<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Whishaw, who replaced John Cleese in the role of Q, also said his Bond character felt \u201cunsatisfying\u201d because while there is a passing mention of his sexuality, it is not picked up on again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The actor, who came out as gay in 2013, added: \u201cI rarely think about Bond. That would be weird.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Addressing the speculation about who will replace Craig \u2014 who originally took over the role of the secret agent in 2006 \u2014 he added: \u201cPeople go crazy about it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIt\u2019s all deliberate hype. When you are working on it, it\u2019s incredibly secretive, almost like being a spy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cYou only get the pages of the script that you are in. It\u2019s a ploy to create suspense and glamour, but it\u2019s kind of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former James Bond actor Ben Whishaw has said he thinks the 007 franchise \u201cneeds to be reinvented completely\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[7328,321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-672070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-film-tv","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}