James Bond should not be a woman due to franchise’s ‘profound sexism’, says Helen Mirren

Actors Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren at the MobLand premiere in London, England, on 27 March. Mirren has said while she much admires her co-star, she ‘never liked Bond’. Photograph: Lia Toby/Getty Images

Helen Mirren has said that James Bond should never be played by a woman, as the spy franchise is “born out of profound sexism”.

The future of 007 is currently up in the air, after Amazon MGM Studios struck a $1bn (£770m) deal for creative control over the character with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, the British-American heirs to the film producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and longtime stewards of the Bond films.