Actress Lashana Lynch is poised to make history, according to new reports. The Daily Mail states the 31-year-old thespian will reportedly take on the role of “007” in the upcoming Bond 25 film. This will make her the first black woman spy to command the role since the franchise’s decades-long inception.
Lynch’s character (Nomi) is central to what is being described as a critical scene. She’ll reportedly star as a secret agent who takes over the alias (007) while being tasked with bringing James Bond (Daniel Craig) out of retirement for a new mission, E! News adds.
“There is a pivotal scene at the start of the film where M [played by Ralph Fiennes] says, ‘Come in 007,’ and in walks Lashana who is black, beautiful and a woman,” a film insider said to the Daily Mail. “It’s a popcorn-dropping moment. Bond is still Bond but he’s been replaced as 007 by this stunning woman.”
Bond 25 is directed by Beasts of No Nation’s Cary Joji Fukunaga and co-written by Killing Eve’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The upcoming motion picture will premiere in April 2020.
Lynch was nominated for Female Performance in Film at the 2019 Screen Nation Film and Television Awards. Her breakout movie was Captain Marvel where she played Maria Rambeau. Lynch also played the lead role in Shonda Rhimes’ period drama series Still Star-Crossed before it was canceled after its first season in June 2017.