James Bond Author Says 007 Really Just Wants To Settle Down

We know James Bond as a care-free and often reckless womanizer, but what if the suits, the martinis, and the pick-up lines are just a facade hiding a hopeless romantic desperate to settle down and have a real relationship?

That’s what author William Boyd thinks.

Boyd, who wrote the latest Bond novel Solo, argued that the super spy always wanted a long-term, meaningful relationship instead of an endless line-up of casual flings.

At the book’s launch, Boyd said that he didn’t care for the expression “Bond girl” and prefers to think that 007 wanted something deeper than “casual sex.”

“I’m not too keen on the expression ‘Bond Girl‘. I think Bond has relationships with women,” he said. “It seems to me that he wants a relationship, not just casual sex. I think of the many that I have read I remember Honey Ryder – and not because she was played by Ursula Andress in the film. I think she was a very interesting Bond Girl… Bond Woman.”

Though Boyd’s thesis has some canon support (consider Bond’s relationships with characters like Vesper Lynd and and Tracy Bond), it’s unlikely the fans will follow him on this one. Interestingly, his fellow Bond authors do.

“Bond was always looking for a relationship,” said Jeffery Deaver, author of the 2011 Bond novel Carte Blanche. “Being a single, attractive, vital man, he would in some circumstances meet a woman and have a liaison. But the essence of Bond is a desire to connect with a woman.”

Deaver regards Boyd’s assessment of Bond’s feels as “quite accurate.”

But the chairman of the James Bond International Fan Club wasn’t convinced.

“I can’t see it myself,” David Black said. “I can’t see how a long-term relationship could blossom as maybe he would like. He doesn’t want to be tied down – he’s got a job to do.”

Editor of 007 Magazine Graham Rye agreed, merely remarking that while Bond may not be a chauvinistic womanizer at heart, he “didn’t have time” to pursue a meaningful relationship.