The Amazon Bondoverse
Amazon wants to turn James Bond into a cinematic universe.
This is a classic groupthink decision.
We must have a multi-character franchise. We already have a single-character franchise. We must turn that into a multi-character franchise.
Let the creatives do something with our brilliant decision.
I really don’t know what they can do with it. Going with the movie characters (because that’s all the general audience knows about) you have James Bond, his boss, M, there used to be a secretary called Money Penny* but female love interests were deemed ‘problematic’ during Daniel Craig’s era. For one reason or another.
Q used to be in charge of cool spy gear back when a camera disguised as a phone was something that inspired simian wonder. Sadly now, he’s mostly in charge of computer hacking. Last, there’s James’ good buddy Felix Leiter the CIA agent.
Aside from Bond, you have those four characters. You don’t even have a coherent Bond legendarium to work with. So far as the movies are concerned this is the same man that Ian Fleming first introduced in 1953 in Casino Royale, which would make him an exceptionally spry 116-year-old. Now the last movie has forced a change due to James Bond dying.
I presume that they will have to adopt the old fan theory that ‘James Bond’ is a cover identity that is assigned to whoever the new 007 is.
There are other 00 agents but not many have ever been mentioned and all of the numbers have been Double-O Single Digit. There is no 0010 or higher. They aren’t wedded to it but the implication has always been that there are no more than nine double-O agents at any one time.
Since no government has ever openly admitted to having assassins on the payroll, even if they all have them, a small but elite team of men and women feels, at least, plausible. But it’s too late now to start giving the Double 0s a life. Even Barbara Brocolli who has been making some spectacularly bad decisions about Bond lately has told Amazon it’s a shitty idea.
There just wouldn’t be any interest. That’s the biggest problem this project is facing. Profound disinterest due to brand damage. Current Year James Bond has been a functional repudiation of all previous James Bonds. Yes, literary James Bond was the kind of man who would slap his girlfriend because he thought all women needed that once in a while. Granted he also thought that more than that would be loutish. He was not a nice or complex man. Somewhere inside Bond knows he is at his best merely a good monster.
There is one thing that would work but I guarantee Amazon’s Jennifer Salke can’t stomach it. An origin story for the 00s.
Start the show in 1955. A traitor (basically Kim Philby) is known to be operating in MI6 and there have been high-level defections (Burgess and Maclean) A special disciplinary committee has been created and organized off the books.
They’ve been given the totally deniable blessing of Her Majesty to commit murder without sanction on their own judgment. It’s members have only a few things in common but they are important things.
First, none of them have a family or close ties of any kind. Their real lives end the day they file into that conference room with M and open a file with their new life story and code number is sitting in front of them. It’s their new identity. Every single record of their lives from birth certificates, and education transcripts, to medical, dental, and especially military service records will be destroyed.
They are willing to have their former lives so completely ablated, it will be difficult to prove they ever existed. All of them are perfectly fine with that. Some doubtless like the idea of a totally clean slate.
Second, all of them have been psychologically assessed as being completely remorseless killers. Most people have an instinctive and traumatic aversion to killing another person, this can be overcome to an extent by training. However, almost everyone has a built-in bag limit. It’s on a bell curve, going from zero on one end being totally incapable of deliberately ending a man’s life, to an average number in the middle. Go over that limit and crippling PTSD sets in. On far extreme are those few with no bag limit at all.
The reasons vary. Some have true sociopathy, being absolutely without empathy. When you see an injured child by the side of the road, your immediate reaction is to feel pain by proxy. A psychopath’s immediate reaction is to try and find the right mask to wear. These people are terrible spies. Yes, they get good at pretending to be human but when the mask slips it’s obvious. “Yes, I’ve had some real gainz from TRT too, but I think it’s drinking the blood of the innocent that really makes me strong.”
A few gain pleasure from killing. These are a real problem as they are unlikely to conduct themselves professionally. Being either too eager to kill or too satiated to respond properly once they’ve done so.
Finally, you have the justification killers. So long as they feel justified they can muder without question or regret. That can be tricky in its own right. Justification killers who were just fine when in uniform have had breakdowns when they became PMCs. Doing it just for money broke them.
Regardless, the justification killer is the best candidate for a Double 0.
The meeting starts with M telling them these things, then instructs them to introduce themselves as he calls out each code number. The camera cuts to each individual 00. It starts with 002 and when it gets to 007 they use some CGI-enhanced, Dr. No-era footage of Sean Connery. ”Bond, James Bond.”
They should be predominantly white and male since this is the 1950s, which will horrify Amazon. Granted there was still a British Empire at this time so some measure of diversity would be unavoidable if M wanted agents who could gain access to anywhere.
Relationships between the 00s would probably be at best coldly collegial. They wouldn’t shake hands, it would be a thing that just wasn’t done.
You want to know about 001? So do the rest of them. Why was that chair left empty? 001 presents a little bit of a problem. That code number has an inherent precedence and consequently, importance. Since Bond has always been the special one, the designation needs a unique function.
M informs the 00s that while they are the answer to the question, “Who watches the watchmen?” 001 is the answer to “Who watches the watchers?” The implication is clear enough, if any of them do meet 001 the meeting will be short and unpleasant.
As the season progresses following the adventures of each agent per episode it becomes clear that one of the agents is a traitor. The two questions of the first season are who is the traitor and who is 001?
The last scene of the first season is the traitor being “retired” by Money Penny (AKA 001).
That’s workable but the problem is Amazon’s Jennifer Salke.
She will insist on a current-year setting with a current-year cast. That means we’ll have 00-Girl boss, 00-Supergay,00-Black & Body Positive, 00-Purple Hair Prison Yard Lesbian, and everyone’s favorite 00-Trans. If there is a 00 traitor he’ll be the white guy.
There is a rumor that Henry Cavill has actually managed to beat down the worst of the Woke crap for his Warhammer show. I hope this is true but if it is, Woke Amazon will be even more determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory somewhere else.
* Fleming based that character on a real-life WWII bad-ass female spy, Vera Atkins, who really does deserve her own movie.
