Live and let live: The Black 007 in No Time To Die

Abstract

No Time To Die (2021) saw the arrival of a Black British 007 as protagonist in the James Bond film franchise. The Black 007 Nomi was played by Black British actress Lashana Lynch with diasporic ethnic and cultural connections to Jamaica. These references are taken up in the film in the context of a late-modern postcolonial Britain. No Time To Die is an interesting case in the Bond film franchise and in scholarly studies of James Bond as it allows us to think through issues of race, gender, representation, and belonging vis-à-vis an ongoing debate amongst Bond mania in the British media around the idea of a Black James Bond. This article examines the representation of Nomi as the Black 007 in this film, focussing on the cultural politics of race, gender, and Black Britishness, alongside the postcolonial and diasporic qualities of her character that the film embraces.