JAMES BOND Rumor Claims Florence Pugh Could Lead THE MONEYPENNY DIARIES Series

The world of 007 could be getting a lot bigger, and Florence Pughmay be one of the first major stars Amazon MGM Studios wants to bring into its expanding spy franchise.

The James Bondrumor mill is currently focused on who will inherit the Walther PPK, but a new report claims Amazon MGM Studios is also considering an adaptation of The Moneypenny Diaries for Prime Video, with Pugh potentially taking the lead role in the series.

Pugh already has several massive projects on her plate, including Avengers: Doomsday, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Dune: Part Three. Adding Moneypenny to that list would give her another major franchise and a very different kind of action role.

Meanwhile, the search for the next James Bond continues. Jack Barton, Jack Lowden, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal, and Harris Dickinson are among the actors reportedly being considered to follow Daniel Craig as 007.

One big question is whether Pugh would also appear as Moneypenny in the upcoming James Bond films. That hasn't been established, but it remains a possibility if Amazon intends to build multiple interconnected 007 projects.

There's certainly plenty of material to work with. The Moneypenny Diaries is an officially authorized trilogy of James Bond novels written by Samantha Weinberg under the pen name Kate Westbrook.

Instead of leaving Moneypenny sitting outside M's office waiting for Bond to stroll through the door, the books make her the center of the story.

The novels reinvent Miss Moneypenny as Jane Vivian Moneypenny, giving her a personal history, ambitions, secrets, and adventures of her own while filling in pieces of Ian Fleming's original Bond timeline.

The first novel, The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel, is set in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It follows events within MI6 while Bond is struggling with the aftermath of On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The story continues with Secret Servant and Final Fling, which weave Moneypenny into real Cold War history, including the Cambridge spy scandal.

The books were originally promoted as genuine diaries discovered following Moneypenny's death. Weinberg even played along with the fiction by appearing publicly as Kate Westbrook before the truth eventually came out.

A Moneypenny series doesn't feel like much of a stretch for the franchise, either. Recent Bond movies and the First Light video game have moved the character beyond the traditional secretary role and made her a much more active part of the espionage world.

Exactly how Amazon would approach the timeline remains another question. If The Moneypenny Diaries keeps the novels' 1960s setting, the studio could potentially use another actress to portray an older version of Moneypenny depending on how the story is framed.

Pugh would be awesome in a series like this! But, as of right now, her involvement with The Moneypenny Diaries remains a rumor, and Amazon MGM Studios hasn't officially announced the Prime Video series or her casting.

Still, Moneypenny is one of the more obvious Bond characters to explore outside the main movies, especially if Amazon plans to expand the franchise beyond 007 himself.

We'll be watching to see whether this one actually gets a mission briefing.

Source: Mail Online