Rumor: Moneypenny Heading Back Into Field In BOND 24

As the James Bond franchise’s three-part reboot/origin story for the suave secret agent came to an end with last year’s Skyfall, one the familiar elements it put into place was the head of MI6’s reliable secretary Miss Moneypenny. Reintroduced in the form of actress Naomie Harris, we found her character to be reimagined as a field operative who decides that a desk job would be more to their liking. But there is a rumor circulating that Moneypenny won’t be behind that desk for too long.

Baz Bamigboye at Britain’s Daily Mail is reporting that Moneypenny will be back in action in next year’s 24th, and still untitled, Bond film.

‘The idea formulating in Bond-land is for Naomie to be much more of a sidekick to James, and for her to get out and harm the bad guys,’ an executive close to the production told me.

Now Bamigboye has been a good source for Bond news in the past, and he points out that he was the first to report Harris’s casting long before it was officially announced. (And it was even longer before it was confirmed that the part she was playing was indeed Moneypenny.) He also had the casting of Albert Finney and Ralph Fiennes before they were officially announced.

So how will fans take to the idea of a more active Moneypenny, one that might even live up to the description of being a “sidekick” to Bond?

Personally, I like the idea of a more active role for Moneypenny. It is something that is certainly supported by what we saw in Skyfall. And honestly, her desire to move from being a field agent to M’s secretary felt a little forced to me. I’m reserving judgement to see what extent they mean by “sidekick,” and hopefully it won’t get in the way too much of Bond’s traditional womanizing.