Who Will Be The Next James Bond?

Earlier this week, someone noticed that the actor Callum Turner, who’s been rumoured to be in the shortlist to play the next James Bond, had resigned as director of a production company he had started with his wife, the musician Dua Lipa. It didn’t take long for the media frenzy to pick up again. Could it mean Turner was freeing himself up for a major work commitment?

This might be the only evidence on offer (unless the martinis Turner and Dua Lipa were sipping in her Instagram photos of their Halloween outing also counts), but Turner is now being seen as the favourite to slip into

007’s tuxedo. The bookies are tipping him to get the role; Pierce Brosnan, who had previously refused to name his favourite claiming his wife had warned him not to, went ahead (presumably to his wife’s displeasure) and voiced his support for Turner with a “he’s so strong” anyway; and even a journalist reputed to have broken the scoop of Daniel Craig first landing the role reportedly claimed Turner had got the role. (If you actually read that article – by the entertainment journalist Roger Friedman at showbiz411 – it is hardly definite. “Word on the street is that Callum Turner is the next James Bond,” he writes. And, by way of support, offers, “He’s tall, but not too tall. He can act, but not too much.”)

This isn’t really a surprise. For much of the last few weeks, the world of pop culture has been agog with news on the hunt for the next Bond. What appears slightly more reliable is that the shortlist for the next 007 has narrowed down. According to reports, the race is now in its final stretch, with three actors – Turner, Jack Lowden and Josh O’Connor, and perhaps even a mysterious fourth – having been screen-tested recently.

The circus that accompanies a new Bond casting – and the complaining that later breaks out over the choice – is of course an old Hollywood tradition. Ever since Sean Connery retired from the role – and there were complaints about his casting too – the search for every new Bond has turned into a high-stakes guessing game.

Amazon/MGM – which acquired full control of the franchise last year – would be thrilled with this publicity. Last year, when it first acquired the franchise, it had filled the hearts of 007’s fans with fear. Would it take Bond to the small screen? Stretch him out for multiple series and seasons, and parcel off characters into their own little spinoffs? These may not necessarily be poor creative decisions, but for fans who’ve been following the character for decades, it would have been nothing short of sacrilege.

But Amazon/MGM hasn’t taken that route. And it will be glad that the chatter has instead turned to the familiar drumbeat of who the next Bond will be. It would also want to generate that level of hype for Daniel Craig’s successor. Craig didn’t just make the role his own, in a way no one before him had, with the exception of Connery. He also bumped up the franchise’s box office collections like no other Bond.

In the next few weeks, we may come to learn if Turner has landed the role. Or if it is Lowden or O’Connor, or the mysterious fourth. Or maybe someone else altogether. Until then, let’s keep guessing.