Bond reborn: 17 suggestions for how to really reboot 007

Daniel Craig’s potential departure from the James Bond franchise has led to a lot of speculation about who could take up the 007 mantle next, with some lobbying hard for a change in ethnicity, sexuality, or gender, while others insist that Bond remain male, straight, and “suave.” But maybe we’re thinking about this casting business all wrong. Maybe, after half a century of sequels, the producers of this series need to really shake (not stir) things up by rethinking the basic alchemy of the character. Maybe it’s time not just for a different actor as Bond, but also a different kind of Bond. Below, we’ve made 17 suggestions—some more plausible than others—for how to make over cinema’s most famous spy. Roger Moore, avert your eyes, because it’s going to get unconventional.

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12. Alexander Siddig is… Immigrant Bond

James Bond has always been a quintessentially British character and this hypothetical film would keep that idea at its center while also expanding the scope of what it means to be British. Like the actor who’d play him, Alexander Siddig, this Bond was born in the Sudan but raised in England. His is a classic immigrant story: Although he’s proud of his British identity, Bond still has ties to his Sudanese culture and the extended family that lives there. That international perspective gives him a harsher view of European imperialism, but it also proves to be an asset in the field—he has more connections abroad, plus he can more easily blend in while on missions to the Middle East. Regardless of the plot around him, however, Siddig is certain to bring the right erudite-but-suave energy to the role. In fact, he already did on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. [Caroline Siede]