No Time To Die‘s Lashana Lynch plays a double-0 agent who’s impossibly cool—but not impossible
As James Bond's newest ally, Lynch strived to make Nomi feel accomplished but never unattainable
Film Features Lashana Lynch
What makes a great double-0 agent? Despite its nearly 60-year run, the 007 franchise has shown us very little of James Bond’s MI6 colleagues in the field. Those that we do meet usually go unnamed and wind up dead—or later reveal they faked their own death so that they could defect to a Russian crime syndicate and plot to incite a global economic crisis via satellite.
That makes Nomi’s introduction in No Time To Die, Daniel Craig’s latest and last outing as Bond, especially significant. Played by Captain Marvel’s Lashana Lynch, Nomi is the first double-0 agent with any real screen time in the series to not turn homicidal (at least, we hope).
In other words, most of our understanding of what makes a successful MI6 operative with a license to kill has been shaped by Bond himself: The ruthlessness, style, the wry humor, the insatiable thirst for a martini—shaken, not stirred. That gave Lynch the space to define Nomi on her own terms, to explore how a Black woman might navigate a male-dominated field, and showcase how other double-0s get the job done.
Not unlike Craig’s tough but wounded take on Bond, Lynch’s Nomi is almost impossibly cool—though she’s not impossible. In conversation with The A.V. Club, the actor shares how she collaborated with artists in just about every film department to get the details just right for Nomi, to portray a female super-spy who never felt unattainable:
“It was important for me to, straight off, have conversations with all of the departments about representing women in the most natural form ever. I wanted hair and makeup to be, of course, lovely and beautiful—we are in a movie world, after all—but also not unattainable. I wanted people to think, “Oh, I can achieve that look at home!” I wanted the costume designer Suttirat [Anne Larlarb]—who’s wonderful—to really make all of my costumes shapely, and really show off figure and be proud of body image. You know, [for] everything to be usable, functional. I didn’t want there to be any pockets that didn’t need to be there.”
Lynch also spoke to Nomi’s symbolic importance as a woman in a position previously only occupied by men, and how she worked with co-writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge to define her voice:
“I also didn’t want her to be one of the dudes. I wanted her to be a woman at work, you know? In a position that a man maybe usually would be in, but also showing women that there’s the possibility—even more so now—that you can be in roles like this, in industries like this. And the writers just got it! Phoebe Waller-Bridge, especially, when I had a conversation with her, I just kind of vomited everything that I really wanted for the role. And she was like, “Sure! That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’m ready to write that, yeah, I’m going to get on it.” And then it turned into the Nomi that we see now.”
You can watch more of our conversation with Lashana Lynch in the video above, including how preparing for No Time To Die’s stunt work has given her “skills for life.” (In other words, don’t cross Lashana because she can take you out)
No Time To Die finally opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, October 8. For our review on the 25th official 007 movie, you can read A.A. Dowd’s review here. For a broader look at the James Bond franchise, check out our Inventory on 10 instances where the blockbuster series chased other action movie trends.
9 Comments
> how other double-0’s get the job doneI’m bothered by this apostrophe which implies possession instead of plurality, and also this font which makes zero barely larger than half-height.
Oddly enough, it should be the letter o, since the writer is spelling out the verbally articulated form of the number series. It should be either “00” (two zeroes) or “double-o” (with the letter o). This writer spelled it in a hybrid way that, logically, should be pronounced “double zero.” However, the font’s unusually short zero glyph makes it look like a lowercase letter o, which ironically would have been correct. At the same time, though, she was correct to use an apostrophe to pluralize (what should be) the single lowercase letter, as is prescribed by the Chicago Manual of Style. In other words, what you called out as wrong was actually right, whereas the typographical quirk you thought gave the appearance of an error actually made an error look closer to being correct. Isn’t life funny?
Her role wasn’t what I was expecting in the movie – I thought she’d basically be Poochie, better and cooler than Bond at every single thing in every single way – but they kinda subverted that, almost so much that it felt like they shunted her into the backseat or cut several scenes out. Lynch was great in the part though, and it would be a shame not to bring her back.
“I thought she’d basically be Poochie, better and cooler than Bond at every single thing in every single way…”
Hollywood would never let that happen. They know fans want old fashioned Bond. Sex, misogyny, villain names with innuendos, campy scenarios and scantily clad White women who act like air heads. Not confident women with guns. Especially Black women with guns. That’s scary to Americans and Brits.
Female led John Wick clones are doing really well right now. Not sure if your comment was sarcastic but putting a woman or POC in a traditional white guy’s leading role seems to be very popular.I don’t remember the women acting like airheads since before Casino Royale, also.
I was expecting Lashana to get at least as much to do as Halle Berry in Die Another Day and while she’s not as objectified anywhere near as much that character, I do feel like she had less to do.
Being a lifelong Bond fan, I welcomed the Craig version of the Canon. He found depth and true emotion in the character. I just watched “No Time to Die” and thought her character to be well played, and highly necessary. There are so many other spoilers that overshadowed the introduction of a new MI6 agent. But, this role was perfectly executed. She showed the same confidence, skill, and wit expected from an equal to JB. Ms. Lynch nailed her performance. It makes the viewer want to see more of her story.
I thought Lashana did a fine job with what she was given, but she’s really not given a lot. If I want to see more of anyone’s story, it would be Paloma’s.
Tbf, her character was the whole reason i was excited for this movie. I’m not a traditional James Bond fan (although I know the movie through cultural osmosis) but when I saw Nomi in the teaser, I became intrigued. Then I saw her poster and I was like “Yes”. I mean not only is Lashana Lynch stunningly beautiful but she just felt so competent and elite. She oozed grace and composure. I could genuinely believe that she was a top level agent super spy. Also, she’s gorgeous as I said before. I saved that poster and I look at it from time to time.I liked No Time to Die but I did it for Nomi and tbf, wohld have liked more of her but was supremely satisfied at her every scene. Can’t wait to see what Lashana Lynch does next.