With the premiere of the Spectre.
After spending years performing in the Spanish cinema, de Armas has made a splash in Hollywood with roles in a number of recent films. She was praised for her role in Knives Out, where she played the lead role of Marta opposite her Bond co-star Daniel Craig. Now, she steps into the Bond girl ranks.
Details have been vague overall surrounding No Time To Die, and information about Paloma has been practically non-existent. She says nothing in the trailer, and neither de Armas nor the studio have revealed much about her character; however, there are a few key aspects of the new Bond girl that have been made public.
Paloma is a CIA agent
There are two other women that get more screen time than de Armas in the trailer; Seydoux's Swann and theorized to be the new 007. All that the trailer shows of Paloma are a few shots of her wearing a black gown, shooting two guns and launching in the air to kick an unidentified henchman.
After the trailer was released, Fukunaga did a trailer breakdown with Empire, where he revealed a few – but not many – details about Paloma. She is apparently a CIA agent whom Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) assigns to Bond in order to assist the mission, so it can be reasonably assumed that she is American. Fukunaga told Empire that "it was very exciting to try to figure out a character that would subvert expectations," meaning secrets might lie ahead in relation to her character. As to whether she is a good guy or a bad guy, Empire says they "have eliminated no suspects."
Paloma is a new kind of Bond girl
While the nature of her relationship with James Bond remains a secret, it is clear that her character will not be like the classic "femme fatale" Bond girls of the past. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, de Armas said that the classic Bond girls never felt relatable, and that Paloma is much more real.
"She says what she feels, she's nervous, she's scared. It's human. When I read it, I was like, 'Oh wait – I can be a Bond girl. I'm that. I'm that messy.' That's what felt so attractive, on top of what she's actually doing in the story, which is another step toward giving women a more powerful and strong place in the films."
No Time To Die is the first Bond movie to be released in the post-#MeToo era, and both Fukunaga and producer Barbara Broccoli worked hard with both de Armas and Lynch to create more Pheobe Waller-Bridge to punch up the script and help in that regard, as well as add humor. For a franchise that has historically treated women as disposable characters for James Bond to cast aside, we can expect the women in No Time To Die – especially Paloma – to be different.
