Apparently the internet is in uproar (or at least a mild kerfuffle) over the possibility of a black actor playing Bond … James Bond. While many are enthusiastic about the idea, others, such as English media personality Katie Hopkins, hate it.

I don’t see what the fuss is about.

Occasionally recasting the lead is a franchise tradition. Fans debate who best exemplified James Bond, the man whose enduring essence is that he is an elegant, martini-loving, skirt-chasing, British spy with cool gadgets and a license to kill. White skin is not essential to that role, regardless of what Hopkins and her ilk believe.

Of course, some of the other ideas floated for “representation” would change the character in crucial, and therefore unacceptable, ways. Casting a female as “Jane Bond” would certainly alter the character in essential ways. And given how central “Bond girls” are to the character and to the franchise, the same applies to the idea of a gay James Bond. Likewise, although a pious Bond might be a better role model, he would be much less like James Bond.