LONDON (REUTERS) - The next James Bond will not be a woman, the movies' producer said in an interview, as speculation mounts about who could replace actor Daniel Craig as the legendary 007.

Craig, 51, is due to step down after the latest Bond film, No Time To Die, which will be released in April.

Rumours abound over who could replace him and whether the next Bond will be female, but Barbara Broccoli told Variety magazine it would definitely be a man.

"He can be of any colour, but he is male," said Broccoli, a producer of the film alongside Michael G. Wilson.

The Bond franchise is one of the movie world's most lucrative, with 2015's Spectre raking in US$880 million at the box office worldwide, while Skyfall in 2012 grossed more than US$1 billion globally.

Broccoli said she believed in creating strong female characters, but added: "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."