So much of Bond is rooted in the Great Game, with it’s old boy networks of private school, WWII service and cold war bureaucracy. Fleming was no Le Carre, but there is far more espionage in the books, which isn’t the purview of strapping SF types generally. Can they top Mission Impossible? Probably not, so why try? 

Gah. Not to sound like an old man shaking his fist at clouds, but don’t we have enough YA series with the uber-young prodigy who happens to be the best at XYZ even though they’re 19-23? Do we *really* need to turn Bond into that too? Let Bond be experienced, a bit grizzled, and worthy of their status. Kingsman was a…

That’s not how it works though. Whatever his MI6 rating is, it has absolutely no bearing on his rank in the Royal Navy.

This is what I think people in peacetime don’t understand or have forgotten. The concept of this sort of weird “you don’t get x rank by age” only works in peace time. In times or around places where war is a factor, the ranks outside of the people who never set foot near a battlefield are building rank based on who…

Young doesn’t work for Bond. He’s experienced and world-weary and bitter.

For a start “Commander” Bond has to be in his late thirties, just to make rank in the RN. Also, there is a certain world weary savagery to Bond, he’s cynical and savage because of his age, not in spite of it. I think Bond has to be older, just to fit in with the character backstory. I suppose you could change that,…

An actor in their early/mid-20s might be a difficult stretch, unless they happen to be able to convey a whole hell of a lot of gravitas. However, I wouldn’t rule out an actor in their late 20s.

Either you make Bond just another Special Forces guy, or you need to make him older. But, the movies have kind of bailed on the high society aspect anyway, mostly because it’s dated. OR, and hear me out, set it back in the early cold war where it belongs, and Bond being topped out at Commander fairly young, because of…

Yes, but there is a whole lot more promotion by attrition in the double-O ranks. I could easily see 30s. In the books it says that Bond knows he will die before the mandatory retirement age of 40 (if my memory serves).

100%. He’s a Commander (04) in the Royal Navy in peacetime. That’s a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. My dad didn’t make 04 until he was 45 years old and graduated from the Air War College (Air Force). Granted, he was army, then college first, but there are very few peacetime 04s under 35 you’d think.

Except that, even if you want to sneer at Disney’s prudishness (which, yeah, fair), “Fight the Empire” made for a better ending to the speech than “Fuck the Empire”.

We all know the real first F-bomb in Star Wars was Maarva’s “Fuck the Empire!” in her posthumous Andor speech, but the Mouse wouldn’t have it.

You are definitely hearing things. That is just gobbledegook gurgling.

Oh that is so sad!

And yet congress, putin, SCOTUS,Kim, over half the governers and state governments are still somehow unscathed. There is no justice.

Holy shit. He was a great on screen presence. He leveled up so many projects, like Bosch, in addition to his genre work. Wow.

What a horrible shock. Mr Reddick brought a touch of class to every role he played. Requiescat In Pace, Sir, you will be missed.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more caught off guard by a celebrity death. He’s in so many ongoing franchises. Destiny, Horizon, John Wick, etc.