By Despite the depressing if entirely predictable negative reaction from a small but vocal (and dim) minority of James Bond fans to the rumours that her character could take the 007 codename in No Time To Die, Lashana Lynch is entirely unfazed. In fact, she takes pity on the poor things who don't want a black woman as 007.
"It doesn't dishearten me. It makes me feel quite sad for some people because their opinions, they're not even from a mean place — they're actually from a sad place," Lynch told the Hollywood Reporter. "It's not about me. People are reacting to an idea, which has nothing to do with my life."
Her character, a British agent, is popularly believed to have taken the codename from Bond after his retirement to Jamaica, and Lynch says she's rooted in the real world.
"I didn't want someone who was slick," Lynch said. "I wanted someone who was rough around the edges and who has a past and a history and has issues with her weight and maybe questions what's going on with her boyfriend."
That was helped by Phoebe Waller-Bridge's involvement with the script. "I very literally squealed when I first heard her name," Lynch says. "I thought, 'Oh my gosh, British girl just like me. She's going to know how to actually take care of women onscreen."
Ana de Armas will play Paloma, and gave a little more detail on what to expect from her.
"[Paloma] is a character that is very irresponsible," de Armas said. "She's got this bubbliness of someone who is excited to be on a mission, but she plays with this ambiguity — you don't really know if she's like a really trained, prepared partner for Bond."
She went on: "She's very smart. She helps Bond navigate through certain things that he wouldn't be able to do alone."
De Armas summed up the difference between the two characters.
"It's pretty obvious that there is an evolution in the fact that Lashana is one of the main characters in the film and wears the pants — literally," she said. "I wear the gown. She wears the pants."
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