Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan says it is time for a woman to take on the film role.
The Die Another Day actor was speaking ahead of Daniel Craig's fifth and expected final outing as the British spy.
"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!" Brosnan, 66, told the Hollywood Reporter.
"I think it would be exhilarating, it would be exciting."
But he suggested that franchise producer Barbara Broccoli would not be up for the idea.
"I don't think that's going to happen with the Broccolis. I don't think that is going to happen under their watch," he said.
Filming for the next Bond film has begun in Jamaica, as well as in London and at Pinewood Studios.
Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge is working on the film, No Time To Die, making its female characters "feel like real people".
There have been reports that British actress Lashana Lynch will take over Bond's famous codename after his character leaves MI6 in the new film - but she will not be the next Bond.
"It's a popcorn-dropping moment. Bond is still Bond but he's been replaced as 007 by this stunning woman," a source told the Mail On Sunday.
Australian Associated Press
