{"id":807080,"date":"2026-05-19T08:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/807080\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T08:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:55:18","slug":"james-bond-star-says-she-was-sad-when-franchise-was-sold-to-amazon-mgm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/807080\/","title":{"rendered":"James Bond star says she was \u2018sad\u2019 when franchise was sold to Amazon MGM"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Bond star L\u00e9a Seydoux<\/a> has admitted she was saddened by the news of Amazon MGM Studio\u2019s acquisition of the iconic franchise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In February 2025,<\/a> long-serving producers of the spy series, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, <\/a>announced they were handing over creative control<\/a> to the Jeff Bezos-founded streamer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a bit sad when I heard that it was sold,\u201d Seydoux, 40, told Variety<\/a> in a new interview.<\/p>\n

The acclaimed French actor \u2014\u00a0who starred as Dr. Madeleine Swann, the love interest of Daniel Craig\u2019s 007 in Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021) \u2014 however, expressed relief that the next installment is in the hands of her Dune: Part Two director, Denis Villeneuve<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that it\u2019s Denis, I was like, \u2018Oh, at least it\u2019s him, so it will be cinema,\u2019\u201d she said, further praising the Oscar-nominated Canadian filmmaker as \u201csuper cultured \u2014 he knows so much about cinema, but not only cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"L\u00e9a<\/p>\n

L\u00e9a Seydoux (third from the left) said she feels hopeful for the James Bond franchise with Denis Villeneuve at the helm of the first installment in the Amazon era (Getty Images for EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Universal Pic)<\/p>\n

Villeneuve, 58, was appointed as the director of the franchise\u2019s first film under Amazon MGM in June 2025. The news left 007 fans divided, with some excited to experience the Arrival director\u2019s take on the British spy and his exploits, while others were skeptical about his ability to keep up with the high-octane storylines of Bond<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my earliest moviegoing memories are connected to 007. I grew up watching James Bond films with my father, ever since Dr. No with Sean Connery. I\u2019m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he\u2019s sacred territory,\u201d Villeneuve said in a statement at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come. This is a massive responsibility, but also, incredibly exciting for me and a huge honor. Amy, David, and I are absolutely thrilled to bring him back to the screen. Thank you to Amazon MGM Studios for their trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Seydoux<\/p>\n

Seydoux starred as Dr. Madeleine Swann in \u2018Spectre\u2019 and \u2018No Time to Die\u2019 (Local Library)<\/p>\n

Since Craig\u2019s final outing as Bond in No Time to Die, feverish speculation has ensued about who will take over. A number of high-profile actors have been rumored to be in contention for the role of 007. At one time, Bullet Train star Aaron Taylor-Johnson was considered the favorite to take over from Craig, with others including Tom Holland, Harris Dickinson and Jacob Elordi in the running<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was later reported that Villeneuve might be searching for an \u201cunknown\u201d actor to play the lead.<\/a> Last week, it was announced that auditions for the role are officially underway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe search for the next James Bond is underway. While we don\u2019t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we\u2019re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right,\u201d Amazon MGM said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Bond star L\u00e9a Seydoux has admitted she was saddened by the news of Amazon MGM Studio\u2019s acquisition…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":807081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[2431,19195,67398,15222,171,15223,325824,328308,328309,90179,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-807080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-amazon","tag-barbara-broccoli","tag-daniel-craig","tag-denis-villeneuve","tag-entertainment","tag-james-bond","tag-lea-seydoux","tag-madeleine-swann","tag-mgm-studio","tag-michael-g-wilson","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116600407695902756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}