The actor playing the next James Bond will have to evolve and so will the director behind the new film, believes filmmaker Sam Mendes, who says it would be great to see a woman helming the upcoming movies in the long-running spy franchise.

Mendes, who directed Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), said it will be difficult for “a younger actor” to step into the shoes of Daniel Craig. Craig stepped down as Bond in the last series title No Time To Die (2021).

“I don’t envy (producer) Barbara Broccoli having to follow Daniel’s five movies. He reinvigorated the franchise but the franchise is so huge that it’s very difficult for a younger actor to step into that. I think that the actor playing Bond is going to evolve, the director has to evolve. I think it would be wonderful to see a woman directing Bond. I think it would be wonderful,” the director told entertainment outlet Deadline.

Mendes also said it is unlikely that he will volunteer to make a third Bond picture. “I don’t think they’d want me anymore,” he quipped. “It was an incredible thing to do at that moment in my life; I couldn’t have asked for a better thing. I saw the world in a different way,” he said about Skyfall and Spectre.

Working on the Bond films was like “erecting scaffolding and building an entire world,” the Oscar-winning director said. “It’s exhausting, in a different way,” he added.

Bond makers are yet to announce the casting of the new Bond.

Mendes is currently promoting his latest directorial film, Empire of Light. The romance drama starring Olivia Colman and Micheal Ward received its Canadian premiere at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival.