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The decision means Lynch is the latest in a recent line of progressive casting that has seen the Ghostbusters films rebooted as an all-female squad, the first female Dr Who, and a minority actor cast as Ariel in Disney’s forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.
But who is Lynch and what has led her to this iconic role?
1. She is 007, but not James Bond
Perhaps the first point to bear in mind is that while Lynch has been handed the title of 007, she is not the new James Bond. Supposedly, Daniel Craig’s Bond is retired at the start of the new film and Lynch’s character has been handed his old double-O code name in his absence.
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Whether Bond gets the title back is something we’ll have wait until the film is released to find out.
2. You might remember her from Captain Marvel
Probably Lynch’s most high-profile role to date was in one of this year’s biggest blockbusters, Captain Marvel. Starring alongside Brie Larson, Lynch, 31, played the titular heroine’s best friend, United States Air Force pilot Maria Rambeau.
Jude Law and Annette Bening might have been more attention-grabbing supporting actors, but Maria and her daughter Monica (a future superhero in her own right, if her character turns out to be anything like the comics) could potentially have a significant role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)’s future.
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3. She has been an actor for more than a decade
Although she is only now hitting the big time, Lynch is already a veteran of television and film. The Londoner got her break with a role in the long-running British police television series The Bill in 2007. She made the jump to American television when cast in ABC’s Still Star-Crossed (2016), a period drama about the feud between the warring Capulet and Montague families following the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Her big screen debut came about a little earlier, in Fast Girls, a 2012 British film about a successful athletics relay team.
4. Captain Marvel was not her first attempt to enter the MCU
Lynch may finally have got her wish of a role in the MCU, but she did not land one at her first attempt. She was extremely keen to be involved in Black Panther, but she was busy with other projects and could not make any auditions. She sent in tapes, but the verdict of those casting the film were reportedly that she looked too young for one role and too old for another.
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A long time MCU fan, Lynch did not get her wish first time round, but when Captain Marvel went into production she was established enough that it was the producers who asked her for an audition rather than the other way around.
5. She originally wanted to be a singer
Despite the success that has come her way, acting was not Lynch’s first choice of profession. A graduate of London’s prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School – coincidentally a school that counts singers including Rita Ora and the late Amy Winehouse as alumni – she originally selected no acting component as part of her education.
That all changed later, she told Afridiziak Theatre News: “It was my singing teacher, Ray, who said ‘You cannot not act when you sing, the two come hand in hand.’ So I took up acting during my GCSEs and that led to me going to drama school.”
The rest is history.
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