Who should play the next James Bond (and who could direct)?
Two months after a scathing report in the Wall Street Journal suggested longtime James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli and Amazon MGM Studios were at an “impasse” over the future of the 007 franchise, Amazon revealed on Thursday that the studio had negotiated creative control of the super spy in a new deal.
“Since his theatrical introduction over 60 years ago, James Bond has been one of the most iconic characters in filmed entertainment,” said Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios in a press release. “We are grateful to the late Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman for bringing James Bond to movie theatres around the world, and to Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli for their unyielding dedication and their role in continuing the legacy of the franchise that is cherished by legions of fans worldwide. We are honored to continue this treasured heritage and look forward to ushering in the next phase of the legendary 007 for audiences around the world.”
More from GoldDerby
Broccoli added, “My life has been dedicated to maintaining and building upon the extraordinary legacy that was handed to Michael G. Wilson and me by our father, producer Cubby Broccoli. I have had the honor of working closely with four of the tremendously talented actors who have played 007 and thousands of wonderful artists within the industry. With the conclusion of No Time to Die and Michael retiring from the films, I feel it is time to focus on my other projects.”
After Amazon wrested control of the franchise from Barbara Broccoli and Wilson, speculation about who might play Bond hit a fever pitch online. “Who’d you pick as the next Bond?” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos asked on Instagram.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, especially one thrown down by a man of Bezos’s stature, here are the 10 actors who might make a great pick as the next Bond — plus three directors who would invigorate the long-running franchise, which has laid dormant since 2021’s No Time to Die.
Lashana Lynch
Technically, Lynch has already played 007. In No Time to Die, Lynch starred as Nomi, the MI6 agent given the 007 call sign after Bond (Daniel Craig) retired. “I signed up for one film, and I don’t know if they entirely know where it’s gonna go,” Lynch said in 2022 when asked about her Bond future. “I genuinely don’t know anything, but it’s exciting to wonder!” According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon executives had reportedly discussed expanding the Bond universe with Broccoli and Wilson three years ago, but the producers balked at the notion. With Amazon now in control of the intellectual property, if Lynch were to return as her version of 007, there’s an argument to be made that it could be as part of a spinoff franchise.
Josh O’Connor
Few actors increased their online profile last year as profoundly as O’Connor. The former Emmy Award-winning star of The Crown hit new heights thanks to his charismatic performance in Amazon MGM’s beloved film Challengers. He even appeared with outgoing Bond star Daniel Craig in the next Knives Out film (due out this year) and participated in a Variety Actors on Actors interview with the erstwhile 007. Still, if O’Connor is in the running for Bond, no one bothered to tell him yet. “I have no thoughts, really,” he told Deadline about possibly becoming Bond in January. “The truth is that … I think in the space of a week, I made a joke about, wouldn’t it be funny if I played Bond? Then, me and Daniel [Craig] did an Actors on Actors, and then something else happened, and then suddenly I was James Bond. If I am Bond, I don’t know about it.”
James Norton
The Little Women and Happy Valley star has been long-rumored as a possible Bond replacement, so much so that he was even asked about it during the BAFTA Awards last weekend. “Whoever’s deciding on these odds needs to get a new job,” Norton said about betting odds that had him as the top choice. Asked what it felt like to be mentioned as a potential Bond replacement, Norton added, “Same as I felt the last time. It’s so weird and bemusing.”
Damson Idris
On the cusp of a true breakout this summer with the Brad Pitt Formula 1 racing drama F1, Idris has frequently been named a potential Bond star. Idris even mocked reports online that he had turned the part down.
David Jonsson
Jonsson has batted away questions about playing 007. But he’s a star on the rise — he did just win the BAFTA Awards Rising Star honor after all – who co-led the blockbuster hit Alien: Romulus last summer and proved his I.P. bona fides by holding his own against a xenomorph.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Taylor-Johnson has gotten so used to being asked about playing James Bond that he’s an expert at dodging the questions. However, the action star — who held his own opposite Brad Pitt in a Bond-coded appearance in Bullet Train — has even gotten a seal of approval from former Bond Pierce Brosnan. “I think the man has the chops, talent, and charisma to play Bond, very much so,” Brosnan said in 2024.
The Field
Honestly, there are at least two dozen actors who have been discussed as Bond over the recent years, including in no particular order Callum Turner, Jack Lowden, Rege-Jean Page, Paul Mescal, Paapa Essiedu, Barry Keoghan, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Jamie Bell, and Daryl McCormack. Other frequently mentioned actors include Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, Oscar nominee Tom Hardy, Emmy Award nominee Idris Elba, and former Superman Henry Cavill. However, those big names might have aged out of the Bond demographic. Last year, during an interview with the AP, Barbara Broccoli and Wilson suggested the next Bond would be a man in his 30s, leaving Cavill (41), Hardy (47), Murphy (48), and Elba (52) on the outs.
Who should direct the next James Bond?
Edgar Wright
Wright has publicly said he’d be interested in directing the next James Bond film, and he even had a pitch for his approach. “I think Daniel Craig has so made an indelible stamp on that franchise that I think you have to go in a slightly different direction… Because I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by continuing in the same vein, and I would certainly think that it would be interesting to try and — I mean, I do have a take, which if ever they ask me, I’ll definitely pitch it to them,” he told Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2021. “So I’m not going to say it on the podcast. But I do think that, when I sometimes see some of the names being bandied around, I can’t quite see it, in terms of to me they feel like Daniel Craig 2.”
Christopher Nolan
The Oscar-winning filmmaker has made no secret of his appreciation for Bond — beyond the apparent influence the franchise has had on Nolan’s films like Inception and Tenet. “The influence of those movies in my filmography is embarrassingly apparent,” Nolan told the Happy Sad Confused podcast in July 2023. “And so there’s no attempt to shy away from that. I love the films. You know, it would be an amazing privilege to do one.”
Nolan, however, has said he would want to have complete creative control of the film to do the character justice — something to which he alluded wasn’t necessarily possible with the previous regime in power. “It has to be the right moment in your creative life where you can express what you want to express and really burrow into something within the appropriate constraints because you would never want to take on something like that and do it wrong,” he said. “You wouldn’t want to take on a film not fully committed to what you bring to the table creatively. So as a writer, casting, everything, it’s a full package. You’d have to be really needed, you’d have to be really wanted in terms of bringing the totality of what you bring to a character. Otherwise, I’m very happy to be first in line to see whatever they do.”
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Like Lynch, Waller-Bridge actually worked on No Time to Die. “They were just looking for tweaks across a few of the characters and a few of the storylines,” Waller-Bridge told BBC radio in 2019 about her work on the film’s script. “When I came on board, I was just facilitating as [many] of their ideas and their instincts as possible.” However, beyond her experience with the franchise, she’d also bring a fresh perspective to the project as the first woman hired to direct a Bond film.
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
