Official casting for the new James Bond has been announced, with Nina Gold at the helm. Who are the new favourites and why is the White House throwing Donald Trump's MAGA hat in the ring?
Casting is officially underway to find Daniel Craig's successor for the coveted role of James Bond.
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Amazon MGM has officially announced that the search for the new 007 is on, with celebrated British casting director Nina Gold (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Conclave, Game of Thrones, The Crown, Slow Horses) confirmed to be meeting with young actors for the role.
Amazon MGM Studios said last week: “The search for the next James Bond is underway. While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right.”
Translation: The wheels are officially turning and while auditions are taking place, feverish casting speculation will continue, and the chances are that whoever gets mentioned as the latest frontrunner to become Bond probably won’t get his ‘00’ status.
The rumour mill has already given us names like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Tom Holland, Harris Dickinson and Scott Rose-Marsh, with additional rumours suggesting that Callum Turner had already been cast as Bond.
The recent hot favourite following the release of Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights has been Jacob Elordi.
Following the announcement that Nina Gold was on the case, three new names have added themselves to the ever-growing list of the men who could be Bond.
The first is Jack Lowden, the 35-year-old actor who Gold cast in Slow Horses as River Cartwright. Spy credentials? Check. Charisma levels? Suit him up. Pre-existing rapport with the casting director? Done. Married to Saoirse Ronan who has previously expressed an interest in being cast as a Bond villain? Make this happen.
The second name being whispered in the Bond corridors is that of Louis Patridge, who has starred in Disclaimer, Paddington 2 and as Edward Guinness in the Netflix series House of Guinness – the show created by new Bond scribe Steven Knight. At 23-years-old, he might be a smidge too young for Bond, but reports suggest that Amazon are looking for a younger actor to don the tux for a five-to-six film run. Could be a good fit.
The third name is Tom Francis, who has reportedly auditioned for Gold, according to Variety. The 26-year-old is best known for his performance as Joe Gillis in Jamie Lloyd's revival of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Sunset Boulevard, for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He was also in last year’s Jay Kelly alongside George Clooney and made his TV debut in the show You.
While it’s worth taking all these contenders with a pinch of salt, as the audition process is ongoing - and traditionally, once a name is out there, the chances are it’ll be another actor who gets the role – someone with Francis’ profile seems like the right fit for 007.
The role of Bond usually makes the star, and rising performers are usually favoured. Sean Connery was a relative unknown before Bond; George Lazenby had never acted outside of a few ads; Roger Moore was a household name thanks to The Saint but hadn’t had a huge break on the big screen; Timothy Dalton had a great stage career but was not an established movie star; Pierce Brosnan was a Bond hopeful for years but remained best known for his role as Remington Steele in the TV show of the same name... Only Daniel Craig had some major big screen credentials with memorable roles in Road To Perdition, Layer Cake and Munich... However, it was Casino Royale that made him a bona fide leading man.
With this in mind, and the fact that already established stars command higher salaries, the odds are that Amazon will bank on a relatively unknown actor in his late 20s rather than someone who is already in demand.
The counter argument could be that Amazon, who took creative control of the Bond franchise last year from long-serving producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, will buck the trend and cast a more known actor. However, this would mean that the public won’t be discovering a “new” performer and will have to work harder to dispel memories of other high-profile roles, like Tom Holland already being Spider-Man for instance.
The search is still ongoing and you can bet that more unfamiliar names will emerge in the coming weeks / months, all the way until the final announcement. However, you can be sure that the next Bond won’t be someone residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue...
Indeed, and in a depressingly predictable act of self-mythologizing, the White House responded to the official casting process by posting an image of Donald Trump as 007.
Check it out below:
While the post was met with ridicule – with users commenting “Pie Another Day” and “License to Groom” with an image showing Jeffrey Epstein as 007 - Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is a notable Trump ally.
Pray that the 79-year-old doesn’t arm wrestle his way into getting a cameo in the 26th Bond adventure.
Bond 26 will be directed by Denis Villeneuve and is being written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. Production is expected to kick off in 2027, with a release planned for 2028.
