Six men are reportedly in the running to become the next James Bond — and the name said to be leading the pack is one you’d walk straight past on the street.
A new report claims Amazon has narrowed its hunt for Daniel Craig’s successor to six candidates. Five are familiar faces. The sixth almost certainly isn’t.
Screen tests are said to be starting in early September.
None of this is official. Amazon hasn’t announced who inherits the license to kill, and the studio’s only public position is that the search is ongoing. Still, the reported names are specific enough to reward a closer look, because they hint at the kind of Bond the franchise believes it’s after.
The reported frontrunner has three credits you’d recognize
According to the report, the unexpected favorite is Jack Barton. He’s appeared in Netflix’s Heartstopper and in Steven Knight’s SAS: Rogue Heroes, portraying real-life SAS soldier John Tonkin. He also popped up briefly in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, billed as Fop 1.
Fop 1 — that’s the credit currently sitting nearest to 007.
It reads as ridiculous until you consider what the role has traditionally valued. Barton studied at the Oxford School of Drama, and his low public profile matches what veteran Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams has argued about the character: that 007 works best as an enigma, embodied by someone the audience doesn’t already know inside out.
A newcomer doesn’t bring another character along inside the tuxedo. That’s the reasoning, at least, and Amazon looks to be giving it weight.
The five names you already know
Of the group, Jack Lowden is the most obvious fit, since he’s presently playing River Cartwright in Apple TV Plus’ espionage thriller Slow Horses. The spy credentials are already in hand.
Callum Turner emerged from the World War II miniseries Masters of the Air, and he’s lined up to portray John Lennon in Sam Mendes’ forthcoming run of Beatles films.
Which is where the shortlist becomes strangely neat, because he’s not the only Beatle on it.
Jacob Elordi has been rumored for this longer than anyone
Elordi has been glued to Bond chatter for years, and his latest projects keep the speculation alive. His breakout came in Netflix’s The Kissing Booth, before he shifted toward weightier fare with Euphoria, Priscilla and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.
He takes on Heathcliff in the forthcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation and headlines The Dog Stars, a post-apocalyptic drama that has split critics.
If Amazon wants an audible reaction the moment the name is read out, he’s the choice. He’s also the candidate who fits the enigma theory least — an argument that works in both directions.
Paul Mescal is the other half of the Beatles overlap
Mescal made his name on emotionally charged performances, beginning with Connell Waldron in the Normal People miniseries. Aftersun brought him an Academy Award nomination, and he then took a far larger action swing as Lucius in Gladiator II.
He also plays William Shakespeare in Hamnet, a turn that has reinforced his reputation as one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. On top of that, he’s cast as Paul McCartney in the upcoming Beatles biopic.
Which means two of the six reported contenders are already signed to the same Beatles project. Draw your own conclusions.
Harris Dickinson is the wild card at the bottom
Rounding out the reported shortlist is Dickinson, arriving off Triangle of Sadness, The Iron Claw, Where the Crawdads Sing and Babygirl. He took on Prince Philip in the series A Murder at the End of the World.
On paper his filmography looks less Bond-coded than Lowden’s or Elordi’s. The range is undeniable, though, spanning prestige dramas, thrillers and bigger studio fare — precisely the case being made for every other name here.
What’s actually locked in
Denis Villeneuve is directing the film, widely referred to as Bond 26, with Nina Gold handling casting. Steven Knight is on script duty, teaming with Villeneuve on the 007 reboot.
That’s the material worth holding onto. Villeneuve, Gold and Knight are confirmed. The six names are a report.
Since Sean Connery brought Ian Fleming’s British superspy to screens in 1962’s Dr. No, Bond has outlasted six actors. George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Craig each reshaped him in their own way — suave, funny, ruthless, vulnerable, occasionally all at the same time.
Craig closed out his tenure with 2021’s No Time to Die. Half a decade later, the tuxedo remains in the closet.
Not one of the reported contenders has been confirmed by Amazon. The studio has said it will reveal more “as soon as the time is right.”