The name’s Bond — James Bond. That much we know. But who will be the next man behind the famous moniker?
Back in May 2026, Amazon MGM Studios, the company that now has creative control over the Ian Fleming-created franchise, said that the casting process was underway. This week, Deadline reported that final screen tests are scheduled to begin, with actors Callum Turner (Eternity), Jack Lowden (Slow Horses) and Josh O’Connor (Challengers) in the mix. An unknown actor is also expected to test for the part. Jacob Elordi, once a fan favorite for the role, is not screen testing
Amazon MGM has not publicly confirmed the actors who are testing for the role.
The British secret agent has been portrayed by multiple actors since Sean Connery’s debut in 1962’s Dr. No. Most recently, Daniel Craig starred as Bond across five films, beginning with 2006’s Casino Royale and ending with 2021’s No Time to Die, which saw the death of his version of 007.
Here’s what we know about the future of Bond — including who might portray him next.
What we know about the next Bond movie
In February 2025, Amazon MGM Studiosreached a deal with longtime James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, giving the company creative control over the 007 franchise for the first time. This came four years after Amazon reached a deal to purchase MGM, in part because of the success of the Bond franchise.
Now, Amazon MGM Studios is making moves to bring a new version of the super spy to life. Director Denis Villeneuve was tapped to helm the next installment of the franchise, with his Duneproducer, documentary filmmaker Tanya Lapointe, signing on as an executive producer. Amy Pascal, producer of Project Hail Mary, and David Heyman, producer of all eight Harry Potterfilms, will produce the movie.
Screenwriter Steven Knight — known for Eastern Promises and the Peaky BlindersTV series— is writing the screenplay, and in September, he confirmed a draft is complete.
“It has always been on my bucket list, and it’s fantastic to be invited to do it,” Knight said in a 2025 interview withBBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast. “I can’t wait to get started. I’m hoping that, being a Bond fan for so many years, it will be imbued into me and I will be able to produce something that’s the same but different and better, stronger and bolder.”
At CinemaCon in April, Courtenay Valenti, Amazon MGM’s head of film, praised the creative team, stating that they were “setting the stage for something that’s truly worthy of the Bond legacy.”
What we know about Bond casting
The casting of Bond has been very hush-hush, withVariety reporting in May that casting director Nina Gold is helping to find the ideal actor to portray the character. Gold is known for casting shows like Game of Thronesand The Crownas well as films like Conclaveand Hamnet, the latter of which earned her a nomination for the Academy Awards’ first-ever casting Oscar.
While Bond has been played by a relatively unknown actor before (George Lazenby, the Australian actor who portrayed Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, had no film experience before becoming 007), it is likely that a known actor will land the part this time around.
In November 2023, Broccoli toldYahoo Entertainment, “We’re totally open to casting a non-star, but acting is a very specialized profession, and if somebody has to carry a movie and have the range of requirements [for Bond] in terms of physicality, it’s not going to be someone who has never done it before.”
Pascal hinted that fans may know who Bond is by the end of 2026, tellingDeadlinein August it was a “good bet.”
Who has spoken out about the Bond rumors?
The reported final contenders for Bond have not commented publicly about the casting process. Turnertold reporters at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year that it was too early for that conversation and that he would not comment on it. In an August interview withEsquire, he had the same response when asked multiple times about a potential Bond role.
“I don’t know anything, so I can’t comment,” Turner, who recently starred in the romantic comedyOne Night Only, said. “There’s nothing for me to comment on.”
In a 2023 interview with Screen Daily, Lowden commented on rumors about the Bond casting, telling the outlet, “People have said this to me a lot, and it is flattering. I’m not an idiot; if you run about in a suit, it sort of suggests itself. But no, I haven’t [screen-tested], I haven’t done anything. Slow Horses takes all my time.”
However, more recently, rumors have begun to circulate that Lowden is among the final contenders for the role. In August, BBC television presenter Richard Osman also said during an episode of The Rest Is Entertainment podcast thathe heard Lowden might be the next Bond.
Lowden’s Slow Horses costar Gary Oldman also told Canada’s Global in September, “It’s been rumored that he’s on the shortlist. We’re going to find out pretty soon, aren’t we? Because they have picked him. They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack.”
He later clarified that he was merely expressing support for Lowden and that he did not know if his costar would get the role.
Meanwhile, Lowden’s wife, actor Saoirse Ronan, told the Associated Press in October that the subject has not been “coming up in our house, to be honest.”
“The dog needs to be walked, the dinner needs to be made — we’re most focused on that,” she said.
O’Connor, who shared the screen with Craig in 2025’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, also skirted the 007 issue in a January 2025 interview with Deadline.
“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,” he said of the rumors. “If I am Bond, I don’t know about it.”
For a while, it seemed like any and every charming actor, particularly those who hailed from Britain, were in the mix for the role — and forced to respond to the rumors. Rege Jean-Paul of Bridgerton fametoldThe Tonight Showin 2021 that speculation around him as the next Bond was “like a merit badge” — but stopped short of confirming any casting rumors.
Idris Elba, a longtime fan favorite for the part, fueled speculation in December 2025 when heposed at a wax museum alongside statues of actors who had previously played the role. But it came nearly three years after Elbashut down those very rumors, telling reporters at the World Government Summit in 2023, “You know, a lot of people talk about another character that begins with ‘J’ and ends with ‘B,’ but I’m not going to be that guy. I’m going to be John Luther. That’s who I am.” And he previously told The Shoppodcast in 2022 thatplaying Bond was not a “goal” of his career.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, once also rumored to be in the mix, said at the June 2025 premiere of his film 28 Years Laterthat he can’t talk about the casting speculation. He previously told the magazineNuméro that it’s “charming and wonderful that people see me in that role” and that he takes it as a great compliment.
Spider-Manstar Tom Holland was also rumored to be in the mix. In August 2025, on Gordon Ramsay’s YouTube series
Scrambled,in August 2025, “I mean, every young British actor, it’s the pinnacle of working in our industry.” Holland is a big fan of the franchise, even pitching an origin story for the character to a studio in 2022.
Meanwhile, Babygirl star Harris Dickinson, another British actor thought to be in the running, spoke to a reporter about Bond at Cannes in May,teasing thatWickedstar Jonathan Bailey would be a great choice. Bailey previously told BBC Radio 2’s Breakfast Show in June 2025 that itwould be “hard to say no” to the role.
Also in May,Variety reported Tom Francis, a Broadway star known for Sunset Blvd. and Season 4 of Netflix’s You, was in the mix.
It’s still anyone’s guess who will earn the 007 title and take that martini “shaken, not stirred.” As with any good Bond movie, we’re waiting in suspense.
