The Race for Bond, James Bond

After months – years! – of endless rumor and speculation, it sounds like we're in the home stretch for the next actor to play James Bond. As Justin Kroll reports:

The process to find out the next James Bond has been long and thorough, but all signs are pointing to the search hitting the homestretch as Amazon MGM Studios is setting its final auditions over the next week.

Sources tell Deadline that screen tests for the Bond role could begin as early as Friday and go through the next week for its final group. At least four test offers have been given out, and while unconfirmed, insiders tell Deadline that three of the four expected to test are Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O’Connor.

Jack Lowden has been considered the front-runner for a few months now, when he replaced Callum Turner, who held that position for several months himself. So both of those make sense in the "finals". But Josh O'Connor would be a pretty big wild card here as while his name was floating around, it seemed to be more along the lines of inclusions in roundups of British man in the right general age range – all three of these actors are 36 years old.¹

Even more interesting may be the names not included here – most notably, Jacob Elordi, who has been getting a lot of buzz in the pastweek or so, seemingly largely driven by a report by Jeff Sneider of The InSneider stating his belief that he was the pick. Then a report by Jordan Ruimy of World of Reel yesterday also had the race boiling down to Lowden, Elordi, and a "mystery actor" – more on that in a minute.

But another report today by Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter seemingly confirms both these final screen tests and two of the names: Lowden and Turner. But:

It is unclear who else may be testing. Sources said at least three actors are part of the action but another source says up to five may be putting on the tux to see how it fits. Jack O’Connell (Sinners) was rumoured to initially be in the mix but that is apparently not the case, according to sources. And despite some reports, Euphoria and Frankenstein star Jacob Elordi is not testing.

So is Elordi out? Sneider still isn't so sure, but again, even more interesting may be that mysterious fourth actor. Obviously such reports are going to rev the internet meme engines. But there is at least one interesting actual name out there... Here's Caroline Peacock for The Daily Mail:

Richard Madden has emerged as a shock contender to become the next James Bond as his odds are suddenly slashed by the bookies.

The Scottish actor, 40, shot to fame playing Robb Stark in the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones.

Now, he is hotly tipped to be named as the new 007, as speculation over which actor will be offered the coveted role continues to grow.

Now, the British tabloids don't exactly have the best track record with such reporting, but we don't really have to trust them here – just the betting public:

According to bookies William Hill, Richard could be replacing Daniel Craig, with the actor being slashed from 40/1 to 14/1 in William Hill's betting.

To be clear, that still puts Madden's odds in fifth place (at this bookie), behind Lowden (4/6), Turner (3/1), O'Connell (who again, is said to be out of the race), and O'Connor (both at 12/1). But the huge slash in his odds overnight is... interesting. Especially given the talk of the fourth "mystery" actor in the running!

Then again, perhaps this is just my own bias getting worked up. I've been on the Richard-Madden-for-James-Bond train since at least 2018. And I doubled-down on the notion five years ago when actual speculation about the next Bond started to ramp. This is not about Game of Thrones, but rather his other roles post-Robb Stark. He's both a good actor, has the right look, and happens to be Scottish, like a certain other most-famous Bond actor.

That said, he is also older than the other three would-be competitors. He's 40 right now, and he may well be 41 by the time the next Bond film is in production. He'd probably be 42 when it's released. Assuming he signs up for at least four movies, that puts him past 50 at the end of those – perhaps well past given movie production schedules these days... Daniel Craig was 53 in his last Bond role (and the last Bond film to date), No Time to Die in 2021. So it's not out of the question, especially given the general better shape of the modern man, but it's pushing it.

For what it's worth, Kalshi's money is now pretty significantly on Lowden – with Turner currently falling and O'Connor now rising fast (Madden is only starting to get some action, but way down the list). And I think of the three 36 year olds, Lowden is clearly the right call. But remember that Daniel Craig was a dark horse too twenty years ago...

¹ With Lowden almost exactly two weeks younger than O'Connor and Turner as the wise old man of the bunch with a birthdate of February 15, 1990. My god, all of these guys were born in the 90s. Come on Madden, make it happen for us 80s babies. ↩