The woman with the golden gun: Our pick of female directors who would kill the next 007 movie
James Bond has always been a high-stakes proposition, and the conversation about who might steer the franchise next has only grown louder since Amazon MGM took the reins. The original speculation around Bond 25 has shifted into something more concrete with Bond 26 already in motion, yet the question of female directors remains just as sharp as it did years ago. Plenty of women have already proven they can handle large-scale action, layered characters, and the kind of tonal balance the series demands, so the case for handing one of them the keys feels more relevant than ever.
Impact of Amazon MGM Takeover on Directing Opportunities
Amazon MGM assumed control in February 2025 and brought in a new producing team that includes Amy Pascal and David Heyman. That shift immediately changed how director choices get made. The Denis Villeneuve announcement followed under the new structure, signaling that studio oversight now carries more weight than the old Eon-only model. The move opens the door for directors who might have been sidelined before, though it also brings fresh layers of corporate decision-making into the mix.
Current Status of Bond 26 Production
Villeneuve was confirmed as director in June 2025 with Steven Knight attached to write the screenplay. It is positioned as his single Bond film, which keeps the timeline tight and the focus narrow. Casting conversations for the next actor to play Bond are already underway as of 2026, so the production pipeline is moving faster than many expected. That pace makes any discussion about who else could take the helm feel less hypothetical and more like a live industry question.
Directors Who Have Publicly Expressed Bond Interest
The historical note that Amy Pascal once urged Kathryn Bigelow to direct a Bond film still stands as the clearest public record of studio-level interest in a woman for the job. Bigelow passed at the time, and no new overtures have surfaced since. Among the other directors on this list, public comments about Bond remain limited, yet fan and industry speculation continues to circle back to several of them whenever the franchise needs a fresh hand. The absence of recent statements does not erase the earlier interest; it simply keeps the conversation open rather than settled.
Evolution of Bond's Female Representation Since 2018
No Time to Die in 2021 gave female characters more narrative weight, most notably with Lashana Lynch stepping into the 007 role as Nomi. That expansion marked a clear step beyond the earlier criticisms leveled at Skyfall and Spectre. Under the new Amazon MGM structure, the pattern of giving women fuller arcs and operational authority looks set to continue rather than reverse. The franchise has already shown it can modernize without losing its core mechanics, which makes the case for female directors even more practical than it was in 2018.
Kathryn Bigelow
According to Screen Rant, The Hurt Locker director was even urged by the former Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal to direct a Bond adventure. Although she dismissed the idea, Bigelow has proven herself to be a true master of big budget productions. No new Bond developments have been reported since that early conversation. Her last major film came several years before 2026, yet the scale and tension she brought to war-zone thrillers still read as ideal training for the franchise’s mix of espionage and spectacle.
Patty Jenkins
Jenkins absolutely killed it with the portrayal of Wonder Woman and her team of Amazon warriors, so why shouldn’t she be able to deal with the next Bond actor amidst a series of explosions and gun fights? Just imagine how much fiercer the Bond girls would be. After Wonder Woman she developed other high-profile projects, including elements tied to the Star Wars universe, and occasional fan lists still float her name as a potential Bond candidate. That track record of handling large ensembles and mythic stakes continues to make her a natural fit for the series.
Niki Caro
If Spectre taught viewers anything about James Bond, it’s that the franchise had reverted back to its traditional misogynistic leanings. Perhaps for Bond 26 the film could use the magic touch of the Mulan master Caro, with her gender-inclusive sets and focus on strong male and female leads. The Mother arrived in 2023 and gave her another chance to steer action-driven material with a female lead at the center. In a 2025 interview she spoke about Hollywood’s backslide in opportunities for women directors, a reminder that her inclusive approach remains both rare and necessary.
Ava DuVernay
Skyfall was another of the franchise’s flicks that was criticised for its portrayal of women, with each major female character being killed off to motivate Bond’s actions. Perhaps then DuVernay’s experience making movies and TV shows that have been firmly grounded in race and female power would add a nice touch to the next Bond installment. She has since expanded into distribution through her ARRAY initiatives while continuing to deliver impact-driven films, including the success of Origin. That dual focus on storytelling and infrastructure keeps her work pointed toward systemic change as much as individual projects.
Susanne Bier
Susanne Bier. While rumors of The Night Manager star Tom Hiddleston becoming the next James Bond were flying around in 2016, why don’t we start our own fresh rumors linking the show’s director Bier as the next in line to direct Bond 26? After all, she’s already proven her ability to tackle big budgets and “masculine” themes. Those credentials have only grown with The Perfect Couple on Netflix in 2024 and her attachment to Practical Magic 2 slated for 2026. Both projects show she can balance large casts, tonal shifts, and commercial expectations without losing precision.
Amma Asante
Amma Asante. We’d love to see the actress-turned-director handed the reigns for the next 007 flick, mostly because she previously spoke out about how “women are pigeonholed into making ‘certain types of movies’ due to ‘misguided distrust’ from executives”. We’re sure Asante would be the ideal candidate to prove otherwise. She currently has The Billion Dollar Spy in post-production and Smilla's Sense of Snow set for 2025, keeping her active across both features and television. That steady output demonstrates she can move between intimate character work and broader genre material with equal command.
Jane Campion
No doubt the award-winning Campion could shake (not stir) the franchise up with her unique vision on gender politics and the female gaze. Maybe we’d see even more strong female leads alongside Bond (a la Judi Dench in Goldeneye). In recent years she has shifted focus toward education through her Wellington pop-up film school A Wave in the Ocean, which remains active into 2026. New features have been limited since The Power of the Dog, yet her influence on how stories about power and identity get told continues to shape conversations around the kinds of directors the series might consider.
Sam Taylor-Johnson
Another director with big-budget finesse, Taylor-Johnson raked in more than half a billion dollars for Universal Pictures with Fifty Shades of Grey (not that the Bond franchise has ever had an issue with selling tickets). If it were to ever happen though, she’d have to switch silver chains for golden guns. Back to Black in 2024 gave her another major studio release and showed she can handle music-driven biopics with the same commercial muscle she brought to earlier work. That continued ability to deliver at scale keeps her firmly in the conversation whenever the franchise looks for a director who understands both spectacle and persona.
The case for female directors on Bond has only strengthened as the franchise moves into its Amazon MGM chapter. Each of these filmmakers has already navigated the scale, tone, and character demands the series requires, and the production timeline for Bond 26 makes the discussion feel less like wishful thinking and more like a practical next step. The question is no longer whether any of them could handle it, but whether the new studio structure will finally give one of them the chance.
