James Bond: 10 Potential Spin-Offs And How They Would Work

In recent months the debate regarding whether or not a female “Bond” could ever work has been rather prominent. This is because a bunch of female actors (including the brilliant Gillian Anderson) threw their hats into the ring about playing a version of the character hastily dubbed “Jane Bond”.

Whether or not you think that's a good or bad idea, the more important question is: how might it work? The simplest explanation is that Jane Bond could simply be a female version of the same character, but that's rather boring, and if Jane Bond was to exist as a spin-off to the main series, it'd need something to differentiate it.

For a start, Jane could work for the CIA rather than MI6. That might seem somewhat sacrilegious, but a spin-off would be a good opportunity to place the character in a vastly new context. Make her a more defined character than James Bond currently is, too – give her something of a life outside of the job, however limited that is, something that she's fighting to protect, like family or a particular value.

On top of that, use the change in country to give her her own kind of missions. We know the traditional Bond formula at this point: mega villain and henchmen try to enact Nefarious Plot. Perhaps Jane could go up against more nuanced antagonists, with plots and goals that are more complex or personal.

Jane Bond could work as a sort parallel version of James Bond, living in a different country but sharing much of the Bond DNA.