Jenna Ortega Says Women ‘Should Have Our Own Franchises’ and Not Just Spinoffs: ‘I Don’t Want Jamie Bond. I Want to See Another Badass’

Jenna Ortega is calling for more female-led franchises over female-led spinoffs. During a recent video interview with MTV while on the publicity tour for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Ortega was asked if she might consider an offer from director Tim Burton to revive “Edward Scissorhands” as the gender-flipped Edith Scissorhands, but Ortega would rather just get to lead a franchise as an original character instead.

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“I love that there’s a lot more female leads nowadays, I think that’s so special. But we should have our own,” Ortega said. “I don’t like it when it’s like a spinoff — I don’t want to see like ‘Jamie Bond.’ You know? I want to see another badass.”

Ortega won’t have to worry about the James Bond franchise switching genders as longtime franchise producer Barbara Broccoli has always said 007 will remain a man. A new actor will be replacing Daniel Craig as Bond on the big screen following the actor’s exit after 2021’s “No Time to Die.”

“I think [the next James Bond] will be a man because I don’t think a woman should play James Bond,” Broccoli told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. “I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men’s roles. I don’t think there are enough great roles for women, and it’s very important to me that we make movies for women about women. He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race].”

Ana de Armas, who starred in “No Time to Die” opposite Craig, similarly told The Sun when the movie opened in theaters that Bond should remain a guy.

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“There’s no need for a female Bond,” she said. “There shouldn’t be any need to steal someone else’s character, you know, to take over. This is a novel, and it leads into this James Bond world and this fantasy of that universe where he’s at.”

“What I would like is that the female roles in the Bond films, even though Bond will continue to be a man, are brought to life in a different way,” de Armas added. “That they’re given a more substantial part and recognition. That’s what I think is more interesting than flipping things.”

Daniel Craig himself told Radio Times on the topic: “The answer to that is very simple. There should simply be better parts for women and actors of color. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?”

Watch Ortega’s full interview with MTV in the video below.

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