No Time To Die: Fleagbag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge Explains How She Contributed To The Bond Script

Rami Malek in No Time to Die

The James Bond franchise has enthralled moviegoers for decades, with Eon Productions showing no signs of slowing down. The generations of fans are eager to see Cary Joji Fukunaga's No Time to Die hit theaters, which will mark Daniel Craig's fifth and final time playing 007 on the big screen. Bond 25 has a ton of anticipation behind it, including some thanks Phoebe Waller-Bridge's mysterious work as a writer. And now the Emmy winning writer/actress has opened up about how she contributed to No Time to Die.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has become a household name over the past few years, largely due to outstanding TV writing. Her shows Killing Eve and Fleabag have earned her critical praise, and a slew of Emmy Awards. She was brought on to join the writing team of No Time to Die, and now the 34 year-old actress has revealed how she worked on the highly anticipated blockbuster. In her words,

[I was asked to do] dialogue polishes and to offer things really. It’s about just offering different alternatives. They did give me some scenes and then be like, can you write some alternatives for this or have another idea about where it could go in the middle or how it would end. And then I would just give them options and various scenes and then they would take what they want. But there was a lot people writing — the director [Cary Fukunaga] was a writer on it as well. And there’d been a few writers before.

Well, that certainly clears things up. While Phoebe Waller-Bridge wasn't involved in the early development and writing of No Time to Die, she was brought in to fix up the movie's dialogue-- as well as provide some new ideas for the story. We'll just have to wait for the movie to hit theaters and try and decipher which lines are hers.

Phoebe Waller Bridge's comments to Independent helps to peel back the curtain of No Time to Die's writing process. It looks like the movie's team wanted her perspective on the story, as well as the dialogue itself. So while she wasn't in charge of the blockbuster's major story beats, we'll still get a taste of her perspective in the movie.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag

No Time to Die marks the first James Bond movie to arrive in theaters since the #MeToo movement. The franchise has a checkered history regarding its treatment of its female characters, especially in early stages like Sean Connery's tenure as 007. Bond 25 has a ton of strong female characters, both returning and newcomers. And we'll have to see how the script (helped by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) services the women of No Time to Die.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge also recently praised the collaboration process she had with Daniel Craig, who is both star and producer of No Time to Die. Craig previously dropped an F-bomb when defending Waller-Bridge's involvement in the upcoming blockbuster, so it looks like the respect is mutual. And luckily the movie is getting ever closer to release.

No Time to Die will hit theaters on April 10th. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.