Amazon buys James Bond – where will the “idiots” take it?

“Does it look like we need the money?” asks Felix Leiter, an American CIA agent, to James Bond in Casino Royale when offering financial support in his confrontation with Le Chiffre—a line that, to this day, seems like one of the most fitting meta-commentaries on the franchise. Because while Agent 007 was, of course, a member of British intelligence, from the very beginning of his on-screen adventures, he was backed by American capital—specifically, the Broccoli family. First Alberto, then his daughter Barbara, were the main producers of the series from 1962 until… now. The creative control of the franchise has just been taken over by Amazon.

The true end of an era—the twilight of the Broccoli reign—doesn’t come from the series falling into American hands (and that’s not something to worry about; James Bond will remain a British agent, of that I have no doubt), but rather from handing over the franchise’s future to a ruthless corporation. For Amazon, James Bond won’t be a beloved creation but just one of hundreds of intellectual properties, with a single guiding principle: profit maximization.

There’s no doubt that the new leadership will accelerate the process of selecting a new actor for the lead role and intensify the production of future Bond films. After all, in the last quarter-century, Bond was played exclusively by Daniel Craig, who appeared in only five installments.

Many rumors also suggest that Amazon won’t stop at developing Bond’s cinematic image but will bring him into the streaming world, possibly with spin-off series focusing on side characters. Insiders claim that ideas have already been floated for shows about Moneypenny, Q, M, or even Blofeld, though for now, these remain unverified reports.

Still, it’s hard to deny that turning Bond into a film-and-TV universe seems inevitable. In fact, it even aligns with the franchise’s history, as it has always followed global trends (for example, just two years after Star Wars premiered, James Bond had his first adventure in space). However, this shift could strip the brand of the elegance and grandeur that accompany each new Bond film release. If James Bond and MI6 start popping up everywhere, we might tire of them as quickly as we did with Star Wars, which Disney turned into an assembly-line franchise.

Further concerns about the franchise’s future stem from behind-the-scenes reports on Amazon’s takeover of creative control. According to whistleblowers, while Barbara Broccoli was still negotiating with the corporation, she allegedly called its executives “f***ing idiots,” which was the final straw that motivated Jeff Bezos to push the legendary producer out of the series.

Jeff Bezos’s personal involvement raises additional concerns, especially among those who follow the American media landscape. When the Amazon CEO bought The Washington Post, the newspaper was reportedly not allowed to endorse Kamala Harris in the last presidential election (in the U.S., it is common for major publications to support political candidates). More recently, a wave of protests and resignations occurred after Bezos announced editorial changes that would narrow the paper’s opinion section to focus almost exclusively on two topics: personal freedoms and free markets.

So, one has to wonder—what kind of script ideas might Bezos reject in a franchise where the protagonist has spent decades battling mad billionaires, media moguls, corporate overlords, and villainous organizations obsessed with world domination and space conquest… now that he is owned by one of them?

In a few years, the most fitting meta-commentary on the series might just come from the iconic Goldfinger quote, where the maniacal tycoon looks at Bond and says:

“No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.”