A woman could play James Bond, say two James Bonds

The James Bond franchise’s less-than-progressive portrayals of women, who are often relegated to the role of love interests and femme fatales, have for years led a faction of fans to clamor for a woman (or really, anyone who is not a white man) to take over the part.

And now, two James Bonds are saying it’s time for a casting shake-up. In separate interviews at two film festivals this weekend, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig endorsed the idea of a woman taking the helm of the storied spy franchise.

Today’s reigning Bond, Craig, told Variety in an interview this weekend that “of course” the iconic spy could be played by a woman in the future. Craig made his remarks while promoting the Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery “Knives Out” at the Toronto International Film Festival, and jokingly endorsed his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis for the role.

Across the Atlantic at the Deauville American Film Festival in France, former 007 Pierce Brosnan wholeheartedly endorsed the idea of a woman playing Bond to the Hollywood Reporter.

“I think we’ve watched the guys do it for the last 40 years. Get out of the way, guys, and put a woman up there,” said Brosnan, who played the super spy in four films: “The World Is Not Enough,” “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “GoldenEye” and “Die Another Day.” “I think it would be exhilarating, it would be exciting.”

However, Brosnan conceded that a female James Bond was unlikely, given executive producer Barbara Broccoli’s insistence that “Bond is male.”

“He’s a male character. He was written as a male, and I think he’ll probably stay as a male,” Broccoli told the Guardian in October. “And that’s fine. We don’t have to turn male characters into women. Let’s just create more female characters and make the story fit those female characters.”

Brosnan told THR that, “I don’t think that is going to happen under their watch.”