James Bond Spin-Off Reveals An Unexpected Romance Between Two Major 007 Characters

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

James Bond has had so many lovers, it's almost comedic. James Bond, as depicted throughout twenty-some feature films, is a notorious womanizer, able to seduce enemy spies with a flick of his eyebrow. 007 was so notoriously oversexed that it became the central plot point of the 1967 spoof version of "Casino Royale"; MI6 agents had to undergo special training to resist sexual temptation. A few of Bond's conquests even became short-term girlfriends or, in one case, a wife. Sadly, Bond never hooked up with the flirtatious Miss Moneypenny, famously played by Lois Maxwell from 1962 to 1985. 

No, Bond's romantic and sexual life has never been much of a secret. Indeed, of all the employees at MI6, James is the only one who seems to have any kind of romantic or sexual life. Sometimes, a side character might mention having a date or living with a spouse, but it's rare. Perhaps most notably, the gadget-building engineer Q (Ben Whishaw) can be seen preparing for a date with an off-screen man in 2021's "No Time to Die." 

Q's love life will be explained in further detail, however, in a new upcoming spinoff novel called "Quantum of Menace" by author Vaseem Khan. "Menace" is intended to be part of a whole new series of novels all centered on Q called, naturally, The Q Mysteries. These new books will refer to Q by his real name, Major Boothroyd, and expand on the character greatly. Q appeared more in James Bond movies than he did in Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels, so this is a great literary expansion for the character. It will also theorize, in a bit of a surprise, that Q and Moneypenny had an affair. Khan explains some details in a new interview with the Radio Times.

Khan explained that his version of Q is not any of the versions we've seen in James Bond movies. He's more closely extrapolated from Fleming's original novels. As such, his Q is a man in his 50s, younger than the original Q actor Desmond Llewelyn, but older than Whishaw. Khan says that "Quantum of Menace" will also not be a traditional spy novel, instead following Q back to his small British hometown to investigate the death of an old scientist friend. 

Most notably, Q will no longer be queer. In "No Time to Die," Q was preparing for a date with another man. In "Quantum of Menace," Q will be heterosexual enough to have had an ex-fiancée. Indeed, in "Menace," Q will have to team up with said ex-fiancee to conduct the investigation that drives the story. And, more surprisingly, Q and Miss Moneypenny will have had a brief affair. 

The Q/Moneypenny affair, because it was divorced from the movies, is legit, and has been given the thumbs-up from the Ian Fleming estate. Indeed, Khan was given a lot of leeway on supporting characters, saying to the Radio Times: 

"They've given me almost carte blanche, as long as I don't upset the entire Bond world. If I were to do something really ludicrous — having Q turn out to be Blofeld's best friend or something — that wouldn't pass muster. The only other restrictions were that if there is something that appears only in the films, we couldn't really use it. So for instance, my first draft had Aston Martins mentioned, but of course, that's largely from the films; Bond's car originally was a Bentley. So I had to go back and change those references... just small things like that."

Indeed.

Khan also noted that it wasn't just Q's love life that would be highlighted, but also his family. It seems that Major Boothroyd has a spiky relationship with his father, the elderly and cantankerous Mortimer Boothroyd. Khan said that Mortimer was his favorite character in his book, stating proudly:

"[I love] Q's father, Mortimer Boothroyd. He's a retired historian who Q has not spoken to for three decades (for a reason that's revealed in the book), and he's just as prickly and just as acerbic as Q... so when the pair of them meet, sparks fly!" 

Khan is already working on a sequel to "Quantum of Menace" that he's calling "The Man with the Golden Compass" ("I'm having a lot of fun with these titles, I have to say!"), and it seems that the Q Mysteries will continue for as long as readers elect to purchase them. 

Vaseem Khan is a well-known British author who has previously written the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency books, which follow a retired Mumbai detective named Chopra as he gets involved in new crimes and mysteries. Baby Ganesh is the name of Chopra's baby elephant sidekick. Khan is also the author of the Malabar House series, all about the police detective Persis Wadia, the first female detective in India. He is taking the James Bond series very seriously, knowing that the books have a lot of rabid fans. "If I were to make a mess of this," he said, "I'd be public enemy number one." 

One can find copies of "Quantum of Menace" wherever they buy books.