The world’s moved on Commander Bond. The symbolism is hard to miss in No Time To Die as MI6’s first female 007 Nomi (Lashana Lynch) pilots a futuristic glider, leaving James Bond to contemplate retirement from the back seat.

“You get in my way, I will put a bullet in your knee - the one that works,” Nomi purrs.

Ouch! Who is this sassy, mononymous Nomi? Lynch’s 007 has been mooted as Craig’s successor - and she certainly punches and dropkicks above her weight - but really? The next Bond?
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Producer Barbara Broccoli seemed to shut down speculation when No Time To Die premiered in 2021, saying: “James Bond is a male character.” Hmmm, that doesn’t preclude James Bond spin-offs though, does it?

SPYSCAPE went behind the scenes to dig up five surprising secrets about Lashana Lynch, the first female 007 in the film franchise's storied history. 

Lynch certainly looks glamorous on the red carpet but back in 2017 she had two cents in her bank account and worked as a temp for Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) and at a car company between acting gigs. "When I did Still Star-Crossed, I was working for the NHS again,” she told Rolling Stone magazine. “When you work, you don’t get paid straight away, so I’m the lead in this show, but still can’t afford my rent."

Lynch, born in 1987, grew up in a working-class west London neighborhood with Jamaican-born parents. Her father is a social worker and her mother is a housing manager, so Lynch wanted her Bond character to have a similar working-class background - even if she is well-spoken. The actress worked with the stunt and film teams to turn Nomi into what Lynch described as a “Ninja-strong, savvy, elegant, funny woman” and was determined to make her opinionated to push the needle forward: “She really challenges Bond to think in a way that he may not have thought like before.”

Lynch, born in 1987, grew up in a working-class west London neighborhood with Jamaican-born parents. Her father is a social worker and her mother is a housing manager, so Lynch wanted her Bond character to have a similar working-class background - even if she is well-spoken. The actress worked with the stunt and film teams to turn Nomi into what Lynch described as a “Ninja-strong, savvy, elegant, funny woman” and was determined to make her opinionated to push the needle forward: “She really challenges Bond to think in a way that he may not have thought like before.”
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Lynch deleted her social media apps for a week in 2019 because of an onslaught of abuse following a leak that she’d play the first Black, female 007. Lynch saw only her family during that period and spent the week meditating, she told Harper’s Bazaar: “If it were another Black woman cast in the role, it would have been the same conversation. She would have got the same attacks, the same abuse," she said. "I just have to remind myself that the conversation is happening and that I’m a part of something that will be very, very revolutionary."

Lynch asked No Time To Die writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge if her character, Nomi, could grapple with anxiety and mental health issues: “So people knew that even if she’s in a powerful position, and she [Nomi] has a powerful role at work, she’s not exempt from anxiety and feeling bad about herself.” Lynch’s tips for good mental health? Turn off your phone and laptop, eliminate noise, practice self-care including burning sage or salt baths, and surround yourself with people who support you.

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Lynch revealed during her No Time To Die press tour that Casino Royale (2006) is her favorite modern-day 007 film, mainly because it was Craig’s first outing as Bond and she thinks he’s ‘fab’. It also happened to be the first 007 movie she saw in a cinema without her parents, leaving a somewhat stunned Craig to sputter: “That makes me really old, doesn’t it?”