Phoebe Waller-Bridge says it’s important that the new Bond film “treats women properly”

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is on a hell of a well-deserved hot streak. The recently released second season of her Amazon series Fleabag is receiving rave reviews (even the jumpsuit she wore in the premiere has become a sensation), and she has also wrapped the second season of Killing Eve as an executive producer.

Now she’s script-polishing the upcoming James Bond movie, which recently began production in Jamaica. In doing so, she has become only the second women to receive a credit for writing Bond film, after Johanna Hardwood, who wrote on 1962’s Dr. No and 1963’s From Russia With Love.

Daniel Craig is on board again to continue his bang-up version of Bond, and as the franchise moves through the 21st century, it has fortunately featured some stronger female characters like Judi Dench’s M and Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd. But with its history of Bond Girls, can James Bond stay relevant in the #MeToo era?

Waller-Bridge thinks so, telling Deadline in a recent interview that she thinks Bond is “absolutely relevant now.” However, the franchise “has just got to grow. It has just got to evolve, and the important thing is that the film treats the women properly.” But she doesn’t think that stance applies to Bond himself: “He doesn’t have to. He needs to be true to this character.”

The writer also appreciates the current Craig version of Bond, telling Deadline, “When I saw his Bond for the first time, there was a wryness to his performance that I really loved… So, I was really excited about writing dialogue for him.” Reportedly, Craig even asked Waller-Bridge to make the film funnier. Bond fans will be able to view the results when the Cary Joji Fukunaga-directed film is released in 2020.