"Don't want to see like 'Jamie Bond'"— Jenna Ortega doesn't want female led spinoffs of franchises like James Bond

Jenna Ortega, the rising star of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Wednesday, recently expressed her views on the trend of re-imagining iconic male roles with female leads in an interview with MTV on September 3. The discussion also featured her co-star Catherine O’Hara and mentioned potential sequels of classic films, like a hypothetical spin-off of Edward Scissorhands featuring Ortega in the lead role.

After Ortega introduced a new MTV host, Josh Horowitz, to Tim Burton’s fantasy Edith Scissorhands, Ortega, and O’Hara both laughed at the idea a little; but Ortega was the first one to admit to being leery of such spin-offs.

“I love that there’s a lot more female leads nowadays, I think that’s so special, but we should have our own,” Jenna Ortega remarked.

She further elaborated, saying, “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.”

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Jenna Ortega shares her opinion on the 'James Bond debate'

Jenna Ortega’s comments align with a broader discussion in Hollywood regarding the re-imagining of iconic male characters as female leads.

This topic was given further coverage during the Venice International Film Festival, where Daniel Craig, former James Bond, was promoting his film Queer along with director Luca Guadagnino. When asked whether Bond could one day be recast as an LGBTQ+ character, Guadagnino derisively laughed it off, saying,

"Guys, let’s be adults in the room for a second."

People have been debating over the evolution of James Bond who has traditionally been a straight white man who’s at times portrayed as arrogantly chauvinistic. Another person who gave an opinion similar to Ortega's is Barbara Broccoli, the longtime producer of the franchise, who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. According to Broccoli,

"I think [the next James Bond] will be a man because I don’t think a woman should play James Bond," she said.

"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."

Debates have raged as to whether the character James Bond should be portrayed by a female but there have been films with female characters with Bond-related characteristics.

Some real-life examples of action movies that have been well received by the audience are the Charlize Theron starrer Atomic Blonde (2017), Salt (2010) starring Angelina Jolie, and Black Widow (2021) starring Scarlett Johansson among others.

Additionally, Rebecca Ferguson’s portrayal of ex-MI6 agent Ilsa Faust in the Mission: Impossible franchise has earned substantial recognition, which proves that original female characters can be successful within the genres that were long associated only with male characters.

Jenna Ortega was at the interview with MTV as part of the promotion of her new movie titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice directed by Tim Burton. The movie is itself a sequel to the 1988 released Beetlejuice. Ortega has acted alongside Catherine O’Hara once again along with Michael Keaton.

The film has generated significant buzz, with fans eager to see how Jenna Ortega, who has become known for her captivating performances in horror and dark comedy, will bring her unique style to the beloved franchise.

Following her breakout role in Netflix’s Wednesday, she has a slew of projects lined up. Jenna Ortega is set to star in Scream 7, reprising her role as Tara Carpenter in the popular horror franchise. She is also involved in Finestkind, a crime thriller where she plays one of the lead roles.