GQ‘s power ranking of the prime candidates to be the next James Bond is updated regularly—and will be until an official announcement is made.
Four and half years after Daniel Craig took his final bow as the iconic secret agent James Bond, his successor has yet to be chosen. As the franchise retools under new corporate ownership and a new director, the question remains: who will be the next James Bond?
Over the years, the rumor mill has briefly fixed on one name after another, including Idris Elba, James Norton, Theo James, Harris Dickinson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Callum Turner. Elba has long since taken himself out of the running, saying the role isn’t one of his career goals, while acknowledging that it would “satisfy the will of a nation” if he took the part.
Taylor-Johnson has also been described in the past as a leading candidate, with some outlets reporting in 2024 that the 28 Years Later star and Omega ambassador had been formally offered the role. But as months and then years passed without confirmation, those rumors faded.
Last February, it was announced that long-time franchise custodians Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, the daughter and stepson of O.G. Bond producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, had cut a billion-dollar deal to cede creative control of the Bond franchise to Amazon MGM Studios.When Amazon founder and Bond-villainesque-luxury-yacht enjoyer Jeff Bezos straw-polled X on who the next Bond should be, the replies were dominated by blue checks clamoring for Henry Cavill. Cavill has also taken himself out of the running, pointing out that at 42, he’s probably a little old for the reboot.
One thing we do know for sure is who the next James Bond director will be. Last summer, Denis Villeneuve confirmed that he’d start work on Bond 26 upon completing Dune Part Three, which hits theaters this Christmas. The next James Bond screenwriter will be Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. And unnamed insider told the Sun in April that Knight and Villeneuve will be taking their time on this one: “Bond won’t be back until 2028. The production mindset’s gone from ‘Let’s hurry this through’ to ‘Make sure we get this right’. Denis wanted a long break after Dune 3 and has some broad ideas on the script. Steven will get on with drafts, before they map out the final version. That’ll take at least the whole summer…Realistically, if they can make January 2027 work for pre-production then that will be a success.”
In the meantime, Deadline‘s Baz Bamigboye wrote last September, Villeneuve and Amazon are reportedly looking to cast a next James Bond who’s male, British, and—maybe most importantly—a “fresh face,” possibly even “an unknown.” (While Broccoli and Wilson were said to have preferred an actor in his mid-30s, the tech giant’s preferences appear to skew lower, with an insider telling Variety that they were looking for a British actor in his 20s—the first Gen-Z James Bond.)
These criteria seemingly puts a number of intriguing possibilities off the table, including Timothée Chalamet, Glenn Powell and Austin Butler (too American) and Jacob Elordi (presumably too well-known, although there were rumors he’d met with Villeneuve about the part earlier this year.)
“Frankly, 99.9% of the names we’ve heard speculated online so far won’t make the cut,” a source told Bamigboye. Bamigboye also reports that the new Bond could be non-white, and it’ll come down to whether the actor is right for Bond, and right for “the story that Villeneuve and screenwriter Knight will be telling.” His source also states that it will be a complete reboot of the franchise following the Craig era, as was widely expected. Who has applied for the role? “Every name you’ve heard of, and many you’ve never heard of,” said another of Bamigboye’s sources.
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