I hate spoilers more than anyone, but if someone would have told me that Luke Skywalker was killed off in The Last Jedi and that it was a woke piece of shit that ruined Star Wars, I would have thanked them and avoided giving Disney the $10.00.
They've ruined:
Star Wars
Star Trek
Ghostbusters
Dr. Who
Terminator
Indiana Jones (if you believe the rumors)
and now James Bond
Let's push back.
You answered your own question.
They will blame both COVID and the decline of the appeal of straight white males as leading men in big blockbusters (very few big-budget theatrical releases that aren't cape films actually star straight white males these days).
They will pivot this into casting either a black male (who will only bed white women) as Bond or replace him with a white woman (and a lesbian of course, because she has to embody all of his traits, including seducing other women).
The simple answer is that they don't care about the money. The entire purpose is to demoralize and destroy cultural symbols. In the New world Order, there can't be any cultural symbols or art or any nostalgia for the "old days." This is why they are hellbent on destroying everything from James Bond to Star Wars to Dr. Seuss.