First James Bond film to feature a major leading Bond Girl from Cuba with the casting of Cuban born actress Ana de Armas who plays Paloma.
'No Time to Die' (2021) is the first James Bond movie to feature two lead / major Bond Girls who are black. They are actresses Lashana Lynch and Naomie Harris, who play Nomi and Eve Moneypenny, respectively. In 2015, when 'Spectre' was released, Essence and the African-American Film Critics Association produced the event "Black Women of Bond", held at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles in California, USA, it being a "tribute to honor the contributions of Black actresses to the iconic series."
The film features the first ever female Double-O agent character in the official James Bond series. The character is Nomi portrayed by actress Lashana Lynch who in a 21st January 2020 interview on Entertainment Weekly's video special 'Around the Table with No Time to Die' (2020) stated clearly that she portrays a Double-O agent in this movie.
'No Time to Die' (2021) features the first ever lead/major Cuban Bond Girl, Paloma, portrayed by Cuban born actress Ana de Armas. An earlier James Bond movie 'GoldenEye' (1995) was also partially set in Cuba, with the Goldeneye Satellite Dish set there, but this was actually portrayed by the Arecibo Observatory, which is located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. 'No Time to Die' (2021) is also the first James Bond film to feature Cuba as a setting since 'Die Another Day' (2002) which is an interval of about eighteen years. However, the picture did not do any filming in Cuba, with Jamaica and Pinewood Studios doubling for the small nation. For the earlier 'Die Another Day' (2002) movie, the production went to Cuba to source locations, but they were unable to shoot there, due to American legislation of the USA, so Cuba was re-created in a combination of Pinewood Studios outside of London, England, and at Cadiz in Andalucía, Spain.
Cuban actress Ana de Armas, who plays the Bond Girl Paloma in this picture, made her big screen debut in the Spanish movie 'Virgin Rose' ('Una rosa de Francia') which premiered in 2006 - which was the same year as Daniel Craig's first James Bond movie, 'Casino Royale'.