Rebooting James Bond's recurring/supporting/MI6 cast

[ChrisIII]

In the earlier Bond films, Bond mainly got briefed by M, flirted with Moneypenny, and got some inventions from Q early in the movie before heading out, with them ocassionally showing up later on half-way when the circumstances of the mission changed for another briefing, and at the end for a humorous note of Bond being 'caught in the act' (Mainly during the Roger Moore films). Also in DR.NO Bond is at least very familiar already with M and Moneypenny, although Q/Boothroyd is played by a different actor, and weren't identified as the same character until THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. Desmond LLewyn is introduced in From Russia With Love, although the now familiar relationship doesn't show up until GOLDFINGER.

Although maybe starting a bit earlier with Q helping Bond take on Sanchez in LTK, this really started to change a bit in the Brosnan era when Judi Dench was cast, with M getting more of a major role in The World Is Not Enough specifically, where she is captured. Moneypenny also tells off Bond a bit for his behavior in Goldeneye (although not as much as Dench's M does a bit later). Q is mostly unchanged (Although in Goldeneye and TWINE he seems to have more of a warmer relationship with Bond), although of course in TWINE he briefly hands the role over to John Cleese, although his Q/R, first shown off as a buffoon, is pretty much similar in attitude to the previous Q.

The Chief of staff role is also more visible, with Tanner-who had small roles in a few previous films-showing up more and also Robinson (Colin Salmon) as a recurring presence.

The Never Say Never Again "unofficial" film shakes things up a bit with an M who really isn't fond of Bond or the 00s at all, and Q ("Algeron") who very much is and seems to envy Bond's lifestyle. Also very little of Moneypenny.

CASINO ROYALE cut out Moneypenny and Q but M is again given a larger role (Although still played by Judi this is not really the same character as the Brosnan one) although Tobias Menzies kind of plays the Tanner/Moneypenny role in the story, and Bond does have a few gadgets like the tracking and medical devices but the man who gives them is unidentified. Felix Leiter also is reintroduced, played by Jeffrey Wright. Bond and Vesper's "Money/Penny" quip might be a bit of a subtle Moneypenny joke though.

QUANTUM brings in Tanner who would appear in the rest of the films played by Rory Kinnear, and a 'sort of' Qish character who tracks down Mitchell's bills to Haiti, starting the main plot, more or less. He's shown to be fairly supportive of Bond in the latter three films, giving him a few tours in SKYFALL and SPECTRE, although they're not quite as close as they often were portrayed in a few novels.

SKYFALL of course has a huge role for M, and introduces Mallory as her replacement and Fiennes gets to do a lot of what she does, including a fight scene in SPECTRE. It also brings in Moneypenny, although this is not revealed toward the end of the film and "Eve" was marketed as another Bond girl. She would of course become part of the last two films, although with her role in the action toned down a bit. Q is also re-introduced, this time as a young man computer genius although still alienated by Bond's quips, Equipment destruction and lifestyle (It also alludes that maybe Bond had a previous Quartermaster/Q, as in this and the Craig era from this point on, he's seen as a more seasoned agent who presumably gained fame between QUANTUM and this film) and participates in the action of the next two films, including being the closest member of the MI6 staff to Bond when he is killed off.

So when Bond reboots for the twenty-sixth film, how should it handle the supporting MI6 cast? Do away with them completely at first (Apart from M), have them already in place? Should Q be similar or try something more akin to the Algeron character?
I doubt we'll get the 'classic" Moneypenny going forward (and even Samantha Bond's version was moving away from that in a few ways) but maybe something similar to Eve?

[Vegeta]

Have them in place already. I don't need to see another origin for James Bond. Even if you've never watched a Bond film, you already have a general idea of the who the character is and what he does. Heck, I would just do what the recent Halloween films did and return to the original timeline, ignoring the Craig reboot. (Not a diss, Casino Royale and Skyfall were imo, fantastic.)

And bring Leiter back, sure he was maimed in LTK, but that's better then how Jeffrey Wright's version was pointlessly killed off in NTTD. (Total waste of a great character and actor.)

[ChrisIII]

I suppose they could bring back the original continuity-they can do what the Marvel comics do and just do a sliding timeline kind of thing.

Or maybe do something similar to "Never" where Bond and the 00 section have been semi-retired but the latest crisis reactivates them. (The 00s being obsolete was mentioned a few times in the Mendes-directed films anyway).

That's also pretty much how the Gardner novels, a soft reboot of the Fleming canon, also started.

[Aahz]

And bring Leiter back, sure he was maimed in LTK, but that's better then how Jeffrey Wright's version was pointlessly killed off in NTTD. (Total waste of a great character and actor.)

I mean in the novels Leiter still kept returning after he got maimed.

[Aahz]

That's also pretty much how the Gardner novels, a soft reboot of the Fleming canon, also started.

I think in the Gardner Novels M just kept calling Band 007 even if the 00 section didn't exist anymore.

[Frobisher]

I think in the Gardner Novels M just kept calling Band 007 even if the 00 section didn't exist anymore.

James Bond Will Return In “Why Has My Internet Gone Slow?”

[Mister Mets]

I'm sure they'll keep some variation of Q, M, Moneypenny and Leiter.

One idea would be to reboot the old villains.

Goldfinger makes sense as a mastermind for several movies, since we just had Blofeld.

When they inevitably do a rogue 00 story, it could have more power if the future villain is introduced as another agent. Maybe he betrays Bond in a second film to set up a rematch in the third.

[ChrisIII]

Greg Pak did an interesting reboot of Goldfinger and Oddjob in the comic books.

Also Never Say Never Again featured a chilling, more psychotic version of Largo played by Klaus Maria Brandeur better than Adolfo Celi's kind of one-dimensional one in Thunderball . Barbera Carerra's Fatima Blush is hilariously OTT as Fatima Blush who is pretty much Fiona Vulpe.

Scaramanga and Drax could be interesting since neither was really adapted well in the old films, although both Alec/006 and Gustav Graves/Colonel Moon have aspects of him, and Scaramanga's book version is more or less Sanchez in LTK.

[CaptCleghorn]

And bring Leiter back, sure he was maimed in LTK, but that's better then how Jeffrey Wright's version was pointlessly killed off in NTTD. (Total waste of a great character and actor.)

Leiter's death in NTTD is as permanent as Bond's. My head canon has it that Leiter was killed off to set up a future Lashana Lynch/Ana De Armas pair

[ChrisIII]

The character was maimed in the original canon and survived (although his new wife was killed). The Jack Wade character was pretty much his replacement in Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies, although had the Brosnan series continued, there were plans for Michael Madsen's Damien Falco to play a similar role (as well as Michelle Yeoh's Wai Lin to be an Eastern counterpart; the Hong Kong hotel scene in Die Another Day was originally written with her in mind).

[Exciter]

After reading the novels, I think this reboot should be set in the 1950s. It’s so much more interesting to have Bond immersed in the Cold War and going against SMERSH rather than anything set in the modern era which will probably involve nanotech or other cliche stuff.

I’d keep it close to the original source material. The MI-6 supporting cast is all there. The gadgets aren’t much more than a knife hidden in his shoe.

[ChrisIII]

Yeah, in the Fleming novels there weren't really any gadgets. the Attache case is in the FWRL book but it doesn't have the talcum powder booby-trap or the rifle. The Aston Martin also doesn't do much except change it's light colors and reinforced bumpers, no film ejector seats, oil slicks, gun lights, bulletproof shield etc.

After Fleming's death the Gardner novels do start featuring gadgets (Including a Saab 9000 with several Goldfinger-style gadgets), probably to get the film audience interested.