Barbara Broccoli continues to hold an iron grip on the James Bond franchise, and she made it clear in a new interview that the next 007, following Daniel Craig, will be a male.

Not a woman as had been widely rumored.

Thanks to a highly unique deal, the Broccolis have been able to exert an unprecedented level of creative control, serving as the final arbiter on everything from the scripts to the casting to the promotional materials.

In a new interview with Variety, Broccoli said Bond will continue to be a guy.

“He can be of any color, but he is male,” says Broccoli. “I believe we should be creating new characters for women — strong female characters. I’m not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that.”

British star Lashana Lynch, has been given Bond’s license to kill in “No Time to Die,” the 25th movie in the franchise.

Traditionalists to the Ian Fleming novels can relax: she’s not the new Bond, but a new character who takes over his secret agent number after he leaves MI6.

The movie serves as the culmination of Daniel Craig’s critically acclaimed, massively successful five-film run as 007; this time, after threatening to turn his back on the series for years, the star is insistent that he is finally holstering Bond’s Walther PPK for good.

“I’m in total denial,” says Broccoli. “I’ve accepted what Daniel has said, but I’m still in denial. It’s too traumatic for me.”

Already, the media has begun speculating about who could step into Bond’s impeccably tailored tuxedo, with everyone from Idris Elba to Richard Madden finding himself at the center of chatter.

Broccoli seems open to broadening the search beyond the usual suspects.

“You think of him as being from Britain or the Commonwealth, but Britain is a very diverse place,” she says.

So how about a Bond from Wales?

Tom Ellis has played the devil with charm and anger and wit for five seasons, so the transition to Bond, with all his action-packed moodiness, should be simple.

His role as the snarky and devilish Lucifer has actually just been a extra long audition for one of the premiere jobs in Hollywood.

A petition on Change.org backing Ellis is now over 3.6K strong.

 

Let’s review:

Ellis looks good in Bond suit:

 

 

He looks like Bond in a tux:

 

 

He looks good like Bond in next-to-nothing:

 

 

He looks like Bond with a gun:

 

 

He looks like Bond just standing around:

 

 

He looks like Bond with the ladies:

 

 

He looks like Bond with the guys:

 

 

He looks like Bond in…this:

 

 

Okay, maybe that last one didn’t help.

But you get the point.

The truth is Ellis combines the studliness of Sean Connery, with the wit of Roger Moore, the ease of Pierce Bronson, and the pissed-off-at-the-world attitude of Daniel Craig.

 

 

Make him the seventh Bond and he fits right in.

[My Take: Lucifer Does More To Promote Christianity Than Other Heavenly Shows]

Meanwhile, fans have already created some 007 posters:

 

 

 

 

In reality, we all love Lucifer – men, women, children and small animals alike.

But playing the devil will soon come to an end.

Kristin Harris, at @knight_vision on Twitter, designed an amazing video that you can easily imagine playing in any theater in the world!

It shows Tom in various scenes as Lucifer, which translate so remarkably into Bond.

“It’s a special video montage I made in support of Tom Ellis as the next James Bond,” said Kristin. “He was born for this role and would be absolutely perfect! The footage features Lucifer and Rush.”

The video has racked up nearly 2,000 views on YouTube in its first two hours.

 

WATCH: Tom Ellis Bond Trailer: