Out Actor Ben Whishaw Opens Up about Playing the One Gay Character in the 007 Movies

Out British actor Ben Whishaw, who played Q in the most recent James Bond movies, gave his thoughts about his "No Time to Die" character being gay – a first for the long-running franchise, IndieWire reported.

The extent of Q's coming out (to audiences, anyway; his in-universe compatriots seemed unsurprised) is a comment made to fellow MI5 operatives James Bond (Daniel Craig, in the last of his five appearances as the iconic character) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), that he is expecting a male dinner companion when they show up at his place unannounced.

IndieWire called it "a brief one-off scene that could easily be edited out for foreign markets," and went on to note that "The most cynical fans viewed the gesture as a studio trying to get credit for inclusivity without committing to a gay character."

Chatting about the role with British newspaper The Guardian, Whishaw, 41, shared that he's only gotten a single comment about Q being gay, and that came from out "Queer As Folk" and "It's a Sin" writer Russell T. Davies, "who claimed he thought it was cool that Q had a boyfriend," The Guardian said.

"Otherwise, no one has given me any feedback," Whishaw said, going on to add that he thought "maybe some things were not great about that decision" regarding Q's personal life – though, he went on to say, "I think it came from a good place."

Still, he told The Guardian, when he saw a portion of the script for the film in which Q's sexuality was disclosed, "I think I thought, 'Are we doing this, and then doing nothing with it?' I remember, perhaps, feeling that was unsatisfying."

This isn't the first time the franchise has tossed out a line of dialogue hinting at something other than strict heterosexuality. In a moment from 2012's "Skyfall" that producer Barbara Broccoli had to put her foot down to retain, Craig's James Bond parries the sultry advances of villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), who caresses a bound Bond while murmuring, "You're trying to remember your training now. What's the regulation to cover this? Well, first time for everything I guess."

Bond's tart reply – "What makes you think this is my first time?" – brought the house down at the film's gala premiere, as Broccoli recalled later.

Still, Q's fleeting reference to a male dinner date has been, to date, the only direct suggestion that a recurring character is gay.

Whishaw – who stars as a closeted gay doctor in a new British television drama – also waded into the controversy around straight actors portraying LGBTQ+ characters. Asked about having starred opposite straight, cisgender star Eddie Redmayne in the 2015 trans drama "The Danish Girl," the actor said, "Eddie did a beautiful job," before going on to add: "Why shouldn't a role like that be given to someone who knows, inside, what the character is?... I'm critical if I don't think the performance is, from my subjective experience, accurate. I might think, 'I don't believe you!' And even a small moment of hesitation or inauthenticity will block my engagement with the whole story."