Monica Bellucci , Daniel Craig and Lea Seydoux attend the premiere of Spectre at Royal Albert Hall. (Photo by rune hellestad/Corbis via Getty Images)

It seems that the 25th James Bond film is on everyone’s tongue.

Last week, Rami Malek was announced as the next villain and prior to that, visionary Cary Fukunaga was appointed as the next film’s director. While Bond 25 is nearing the start of production, a question that no one can seem to get past is who will take on the iconic James Bond role once Daniel Craig retires the character?

For months, Idris Elba was suggested as the next Bond, though the Hollywood star was forced to shut down rumours, time and time again. Fans put bets on the likes of Tom Hardy and Michael Fassbender with Henry Cavill openly offering his services to the 007 role. Amidst the endless chattering, actresses Priyanka Chopra, Gillian Anderson, Elizabeth Banks and Emilia Clarke also put themselves forward for a gender-swapped iteration.

So what does the current Bond think of all of this? In a new interview with The MirrorDaniel Craig broke his silence over the next predecessor. According to the report, the 51-year-old who has faced the role for 13 years believes it should be open to different genders and races.

“I think that ­everybody should be ­considered. Also for women and for African-Americans, there should be great parts anyway, across the board.” Soon after, he confirmed his views on a UK morning TV show further commenting, “I cannot see any reason why ultimately, a woman, a lady, a girl, cannot play the James Bond character.”

But such changes are quite controversial. Earlier this year, Bond girl Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale told Vanity Fair, “I’m for women, but I really think James Bond should remain a man. It doesn’t make sense for him to be a woman,” said Green. In 2018, Craig’s own wife Rachel Weisz explained that Ian Fleming “devoted an awful lot of time to writing this particular character, who is particularly male and relates in a particular way to women.”

The conversation around women, particularly in male-dominated roles has ignited in recent years as the push for gender-equality continues. Do you think a woman should play Bond?