That’s how the Bond franchise rolls these days.
I’d actually laugh out loud if Amazon announced that the next film will feature a different leading character.
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Amazon has only a couple of years left before the copyright on Bond runs out. I don’t really think it would be wise to cut that precious time short in advance. But…
…I suspect they will try to establish a cast of their own original characters beside Bond. Possibly for use in spinoffs or to have some popular names/faces to distinguish their particular version of Bond from contenders. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t lay the necessary groundwork for such a move during BOND 26/Bond 2.0.
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Amazon has a large legal department and the deepest pockets of any company on the planet, so I would expect them to tie up in court any filmmakers that would try to launch their own 007 films.
From what I’ve read on the matter, anybody trying to do so would have to keep their interpretation strictly in line with the book version of Bond. Any venturing out into anything that could be perceived as being “movie Bond” will have Amazon’s lawyers sprinting for the nearest courthouse.
I welcome that, as I’d love to see something more along these lines, but for anyone that wants to give it a go, it’s going to be a very difficult and costly task to pull off. And they’re going to be more likely much less popular since I’ve been told time and time again that people go to these films for Q and Moneypenny, two characters, as the public knows them, who are largely products of the EON cinematic Bond.
More like “EON Bond” than movie Bond in general. We’ve had that topic back in March already with that Winnie the Pooh slasher angle.
Of course Amazon’s lawyers (or rather their case law AI that’s now churning out the vast majority of legal text submitted to the courts) will argue any adaptation of these works newly in the public sphere would have to slavishly follow the books. Only catch is, that’s demonstrably not the case in practically every other adaptation of a classic work in the public sphere, from Dickens to Dumas to Dostoevsky. Literary characters often enjoy more freedom from their origins on the page once they’re in the public sphere.
I have no doubt Amazon will argue otherwise - or try to arrive at the desired result by means of ‘political landscape management’ since that’s now an option - but I doubt they will succeed to completely forestall any and all rival adaptations from 2035 onwards under the rule of law; that’s simply not feasible, even for such a pseudo-omnipotent entity as Amazon.
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I think these two paragraphs are the most important in terms of how this might move forward:
While Bond’s boss M is also a staple of the books, it is debatable whether any would-be 007 copycat creation could show Q as a gadget supremo. And any depiction of Bond’s arguably most famous adversary in the film franchise, Blofeld, would have to see the super-villain appear with hair – and without signature white cat – as he was originally presented in the novels. [1]
Given that nobody seems to think that a James Bond movie can be made without Q and Moneypenny, making such drastic changes to the Q character (i.e. having to name him Major Boothroyd as opposed to Q) and not having the scenes featuring various gadget-related gags could prove too much for audiences.
“Companies will need to be cautious in how they go about exploiting Bond,” says Froud. “The James Bond films are so well known and embedded in popular psyche it would be difficult to separate this knowledge from any new works that creative companies might wish to develop based on the content of the books alone. Any mistakes could attract copyright infringement claims from the owners of the films.”[2]
This is probably the most important. Any new filmmakers attempting to launch their own version of Bond will have to channel their inner Winston Zeddemore while facing the choice of the form of the Destructor (“my mind is totally blank”) and leave anything and everything they know about Bond from the films at the door and simply adapt the Bond of the novels to their film project. Unless they’re backed by an entity with pockets that are comparably as deep to those of Amazon, Amazon stands a decent chance of emerging victorious, even if they’re only able to run out the clock on a lawsuit.
I’m all for someone attempting to make this kind of Bond film, by the way. I would embrace any serious attempt at this (i.e. not a Blood and Honey situation, although I’d watch that out of curiosity), as it would represent perhaps the first serious opportunity we would have to see a Bond film that isn’t beholden to arbritrary things that really don’t have much, if anything, to do with the character of James Bond himself.
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Since 1962 Bond has become part of a human subconscious cultural blueprint, a collection of images and ideas recognised almost universally around the globe. A set of clichés so ubiquitous they are even recognised as aimed at ‘James Bond’ when they are wilfully distorted to misrepresent Bond, as in Alan Moore’s Black Dossier or the Austin Powers caricatures.
Today, it’s hard to find someone who hasn’t seen - or at least heard of - James Bond; it would have to be one of the rare jungle tribes avoiding all contact with modern civilisation. It’s fair to say Bond has evolved into a cinematic understanding of the hero that’s only loosely connected to the character’s written sources (especially when we think of the wide variety of these sources, the tonal gap between the texts). Whoever undertakes the venture to adapt these works anew will not just have to battle lawyers but also that bigger pop culture iconography, no doubt about it.
Could it work? I’m fairly certain it will be tried, probably with Moonraker as a first project that promises fantastic visual thrills and action - even if the hero doesn’t get the girl in the end. With modern imagery and effects even the locations of a London then almost a century ago would be little problem. Not authentic, not the real thing, but they needn’t be.
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Goodbye to Vlad the Dad
I’ll keep this brief
Kim Sherwood
Jul 19 
Dear Reader,
You’ve not heard from me for a little while. As you know, I lost my beloved mother-in-law before Christmas, and in February my trailblazing grandmother died. I last wrote to you in Spring, hoping for better waters ahead. But after a short period with cancer, my father, Craig Sherwood, died on the 16th of June, the day after Father’s Day.
Craig loved history and we always called him Vlad the Dad. At his funeral this week, I discovered this nickname began as Vlad the Impala, gifted to him by colleagues on tour with Depeche Mode in the ‘80s. Craig was a production manager for rock’n’roll bands and major concerts like Nelson Mandela’s Birthday in the Park, the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony and the Queen’s Jubilee(s). If you’ve read the Thanks & Acknowledgements in my Bond novels, you’ll see Craig mentioned as my global tour guide. He’d travelled literally anywhere there’s a stage and provided me with insights and stories into all my locations for the Double O Series. There are many lines in the books that are his, from describing the smell of a hotel in Kazakhstan to the sensation of standing on the Great Wall of China.
We shared a love of literature, travel, history, films and music. We made each other laugh. At times there was distance between us, but we always found our way back to each other. At his funeral, I read ‘The Farewell’ from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. The poem begins, ‘Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you. It was but yesterday we met in a dream.’ Here we are at the beginning of that dream.
After hearing about my recent losses, a former student got in touch and told me about the Portuguese word ‘saudade’, meaning the act of missing someone. She told me that in life we collect many saudades, like drops in a cup. Sometimes, the cup overflows. That’s how I feel right now. She told me we can’t pour the cup out, only learn to create more space for the saudade inside.
I wanted to let you know, because I really appreciate all your support and messages. I’ll write again soon, I hope from calmer waters.
From Kim, With Love x
I wish her the best. She’s going through a tough time now. We should try and comfort her.
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Very sorry to hear about this series of painful losses. Not sure how much in the way of comfort we can provide though.
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Drum roll please…
… and the title of Double O Book 3 is…
Aug 01, 2025
Dear Reader,
One of the most daunting and exciting aspects of writing James Bond is choosing a title. Ian Fleming was a master at titles. The lyrical phrases: From Russia With Love, You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die … The mysterious one word titles, where it’s all vibes and who cares if you don’t know what it means: Thunderball, Goldfinger, Octopussy… Bond titles are a genre of their own, iconic, cultural shorthands that you know even if you’ve never read or watched Bond. No pressure then.
The title of Book 3 was elusive for a long time. It changed and changed. Then, on literally the last day of writing, I realized it was right there. A motif throughout the book. My all-time favourite Fleming image, threaded across the trilogy. A metaphor for our hero’s state of mind in this final installment.
If you’re a long-term reader of Bond, you’ll recognize the line. It’s from the first Bond book I devoured, aged twelve, From Russia With Love :
‘In the centre of Bond was a hurricane room, the kind of citadel found in old-fashioned houses in the tropics. These rooms are small, strongly built cells in the heart of the house, in the middle of the ground floor and sometimes dug down into its foundations. To this cell the owner and his family retire if the storm threatens to destroy the house, and they stay there until the danger is past. Bond went to his hurricane room only when the situation was beyond his control and no other possible action could be taken.’
Fleming takes us into the mind of 007 and what is left of him when all the cars, gadgets and guns are gone. And that’s where we find him now…
James Bond returns in Hurricane Room , and the Double O agents make their last stand.
Pre-orders are a massive part of a book’s success, so if you’re excited for this one pre-order now, shout about it, tell your friends, ask your local bookshop, let’s go!
The return of 007
Agent 003, Joanna Harwood, has finally found James Bond after nearly two years of searching. All she has to do is get him out of Russia and convince him he can trust her again.
A mission for revenge
But Bond trusts no one. And he wants revenge on Mora, the monstrous figure at the head of Rattenfänger – a terrorist organisation with links to the past.
The final showdown
MI6’s Double O section is in pieces. Moneypenny is captured. 000 has switched sides. And all of Rattenfänger’s plans for hijacking the cyber-intelligence of the West are finally about to be realised.
The remaining Double Os must work together – and figure out which of them are still loyal…
I can’t wait to share this one with you! It was the hardest to write but it’s become my favourite of the trilogy.
As ever, founding members of girl with the golden pen will receive signed early proofs – arriving in the summer – and signed first edition hardbacks. Upgrade now if you’d like to get your hands on an early copy of Hurricane Room !
To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free subscriber. For bonus content, become a paid subscriber for £7 a month or £70 a year. Or for £150, upgrade to become a founding member & receive signed merch and early copies!
If you’re hankering for more Bond and crime content now, paid subscribers can read on below for a round-up of my latest radio appearances and upcoming events, all in one handy spot. Plus an update on my latest forays into screen writing!
Thanks so much for being on this journey with me. It means the world (…is not enough).
From Kim, With Love x
I am excited, she has earned her status as a great Bond alumni!
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Great news, glad she’s finally getting it out there. Any word on a signed edition? I can’t seem to find anything just yet.
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It’s still a bit early for a signed edition announcement. Maybe by the new year.
An interesting viewpoint from Kim Sherwood on Steven Knight. So much for my prediction that she could become a Bond screenwriter for the foreseeable future.
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(Subscribe to girl with the golden pen) for more
Back to Budapest
Plus Steven Knight pens Bond & Script vs Novel Submissions
Kim Sherwood
Aug 27 ∙ Preview
Dear Reader,
A few things in this newsletter – returning to Hungary to say goodbye, news in the Bond world, and the difference between delivering a novel and delivering a script.
Back to Budapest
This week, we’re travelling to Hungary for my grandmother’s memorial. Marika was a Hungarian Jewish Holocaust Survivor. She left Budapest with her remaining family after the war and never moved back but always felt it was her true home. She asked us to scatter her ashes in the Danube.
Marika first took me to Hungary when I was fourteen and it became a home-away-from-home for me. Our family history inspired my first novel, Testament .
Writing the novel, I spent a lot of time in Budapest, researching in archives and museums, walking in my characters’ footsteps, sitting by the Danube. It’s a river that stirs my soul.
Testament postcard, photo by Rosie Sherwood.
Anticipating the journey, I’ve been reading my travel diaries from that first trip with Marika in 2005, and in 2014 when I spent a month in the country. I don’t keep a regular diary, despite Tony Benn’s injunction that I should do so – he was a friend of my grandmother’s and told me that a) I should write everything down in a journal and b) I would change the world. Both of these seem like wise parting gifts to any teenager, but I took them to heart, and at least manage to keep a diary when I’m travelling. I’m grateful because it means I have a testament of that trip with Marika, which shaped so much of my identity and future.
So many things struck me reading my journal from ‘05. Little things like lunch made of salami and bread in squares and public gardens – still my favourite thing – and an abundance of cake and ice cream in cafés dating back to the nineteenth century – also my favourite thing. Marika took me to the apartment where she was born, the basement where she hid, her school. She spoke for the first time about the atrocities she had witnessed as a child. I wrote down all of our conversations about life, the universe and everything – reading over those pages, I can see my self forming.
There were two moments that came back like flashes of light in the dark. Here’s me at fourteen: ‘We sat on the steps by the banks of the river with the water splashing at our feet and the sun setting and I don’t think I have ever seen Marika look more beautiful. I think I’ll remember and treasure that sunset, and just the fact that I was there by the Danube with Marika, forever.’ That was our first day in the city. In the days to come, Marika took me up the steep funicular railway to the castle, pulled by cables. I was scared. Marika told me I should ‘never be afraid of anything – one in twenty people aren’t alright, and once every twenty years a cable snaps. If you happen to be on the cable that snaps, there is nothing you can do, so what is the point of being afraid?’ She told me she learnt that in the war – ‘if I did get bombed, there was nothing I could do, so what was the point of being afraid?’ There’s a good lesson from a Jewish grandma.
When I made my long stay there in 2014, my father, Craig, was also in Hungary. He was a production manager for rock ‘n’ roll bands and went wherever there was music. By serendipity, he was going to Sopron, a tiny border down, where I was also going because my grandmother’s uncle had been murdered on a forced march and buried there in a mass grave. We walked together through the woods and had ice cream from a roadside seller on a lonely picnic bench. It was one of the most significant moments in our relationship and since losing him a few weeks ago it’s something I’ve gone over and over.
Many of these events found their way, transliterated, into Testament . I was so proud to share the book with both Marika and Craig.
If you’d like to read about the locations in Testament, I wrote about my experiences for the brilliant Trip Fiction back in 2018 – check it out here.
Steven Knight set to write Bond
Lots of exciting news flying around the Bond world, from the appointment of Denis Villeneuve as the next director to Steven Knight as the new writer. I’m hugely excited and heartened by both. I wrote about why Knight is the perfect pick for The Conversation – check it out here.
Knight was asked what we can expect from his Bond and he said it will be ‘better, stronger and bolder.’ I should learn to say things like that.
Reaction to Hurricane Room
I’ve loved seeing the excitement for Hurricane Room , the final instalment of my Double O trilogy. The brilliant announcement video has racked up 10.6k views! And it was great to see this write-up from Ryan Britt in Men’s Journal , which had 30k views overnight! The headline probably helps… check it out here.
Pre-orders are the make or break of a book so if you haven’t yet, pre-order your copy now!
Thanks so much for all your support! For paying subscribers, read on to hear about the differences between delivering a novel and delivering a script…
girl with the golden pen is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
From Kim, With Love x …
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What I don’t understand is that the book seems to be primarily about Budapest, yet there’s a picture of Prague on the cover… 
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