Former Bond Girl Gemma Arterton Calls Idea Of Female 007 'Outrageous'

The actor starred opposite Daniel Craig in 2008's "Quantum of Solace" as the ill-fated Bond girl Strawberry Fields.

Gemma Arterton has some thoughts on the idea of a female James Bond.

The British actor, who famously starred opposite Daniel Craig in 2008’s “Quantum of Solace” as ill-fated Bond girl Strawberry Fields, doesn’t think a female 007 would work.

“Isn’t a female James Bond like Mary Poppins being played by a man?” Arterton told U.K.’s The Times in an article published Tuesday. “They talk about it, but I think people would find it too outrageous. Sometimes you just have to respect the tradition.”

Tradition has certainly stood firm amid the yearslong discourse surrounding a female Bond, as even franchise producer Barbara Broccoli — who has been in charge of casting the coveted role since 1995 — revealed during Craig’s tenure that it’ll “probably” never happen.

“He was written as a male and I think he’ll probably stay as a male,” Broccoli told The Guardian in 2018. “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.”