Daniel Craig has commented on whether or not he thinks there should ever be a female James Bond.
The actor, 53, made the revelation ahead of the release of his fifth and final portrayal of the iconic character in the upcoming movie No Time to Die, which is being released this fall, the Metro reports.
Despite once saying he "cannot see any reason why ultimately a woman, a lady, girl, cannot play the James Bond character", Craig's stance on the subject took a dramatic U-turn in a recent interview with the Radio Times.
He said of the introduction of a female actor to play Bond: "The answer to that is very simple. There should simply be better parts for women and actors of color.
"Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?"
The actor went on to explain that the franchise had made a recent attempt to "spice it up" by recruiting Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge to the Bond writing team.
However, he noted that because she is a fan of the iconic character herself, she "wasn't about to take him in a different direction."
The current James Bond is not the first person to say that the character shouldn't be portrayed by a woman, so too did producer Barbara Broccoli when she was being interviewed on Good Morning Britain in 2019.
"We have to make movies about women and women's stories but we have to create female characters and not just for a gimmick turn a male character into a woman," Broccoli said.
In a recent clip from the upcoming Apple TV documentary Being James Bond, a visibly emotional Craig told the crew after filming on No Time To Die had wrapped: "A lot of people here worked on five pictures with me. And I know there's a lot of things said about what I think about these films or all of those... Whatever.
"But I've loved every single second of these movies, and especially this one, because I've got up every morning and I've had the chance to work with you guys."
It is not currently known who will be stepping into 007's shoes when Craig departs from the series.
No Time to Die is set to be released on September 30.