James Bond actor Lashana Lynch expertly clapped back at people who don’t want her to play 007

It feels like we’ve been waiting years for James Bond’s latest outing, No Time to Die, to be released, meaning one of the film’s stars has had a lot of time to think about it.

Lashana Lynch, who will play a 007 agent, was named Breakthrough Actress of the Year by British GQ, and in her interview with the magazine, she shared her thoughts about the backlash to her role.

“White patriarchy will always have something to say when it comes to things like that,” she said. “But the magnitude of it was ridiculous.”

After it was revealed that Lynch would become the first Black female 007, the news was met with such vitriolic backlash by trolls that the actor had to delete her social media accounts for a week.

The actor also had an amazing comeback to her detractors, explaining that she imagines them as “weird-looking actual trolls with blue hair”. She added: “For me, none of it is real. As soon as my phone is off or I’m out of the app, it quite literally doesn’t exist any more.”

Lashana continued by she’s “tired” of people celebrating cultural milestones in representation as if “it’s this New Age thing, like black people have just arrived on the planet”:

"That’s what annoys me about the idea of Idris Elba being ‘the black Bond’... For my community, those are really big things, but for the world, I need you to not care about it."

We’ll finally be able to see Lynch in action when No Time to Die is released in April next year – but don’t hold your breath.