While the identity of the next James Bond remains a mystery, some of the most likely candidates already have spy thrillers under their belts.
SUMMARY
The search for Daniel Craig’s Bond replacement continues, but some top contenders already have spy movies from recent years.
Candidates like Henry Cavill, Tom Hiddleston, and Regé-Jean Page have showcased their potential through various roles.
Despite the rumors, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is not confirmed as the next Bond, leaving room to consider other contenders for the iconic role.
As speculation around who will replace Daniel Craig for Bond 26 continues, fans can see the credentials of some of the front runners based on other James Bond-style movies they have appeared in.
While the latest rumors suggest that Aaron Taylor-Johnson will be the next James Bond, these reports are unconfirmed.
Taylor-Johnson is best known for the Kick-Ass movies, his role as Pietro Maximoff in the MCU, and his performance in Bullet Train alongside Brad Pitt. His casting remains nothing more than a rumor, so it’s worth considering other candidates.
The mystery of who will play 007 next has rumbled on ever since Daniel Craig first announced that No Time to Die would be his final movie in the franchise.
News of a replacement has been surprisingly slow, and three years after the last Bond movie fans are still no closer to learning who will become the new face of the franchise.
Fortunately, some of the most popular candidates have already starred in movies which could serve as audition tapes for James Bond, and these movies allow fans to compare how different actors might approach the iconic role if they were given a chance.
The Daniel Craig 007 era ended with the release of No Time to Die, but what comes next? Here’s everything that’s been revealed about Bond 26.
7Henry Cavill
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Henry Cavill famously missed out on becoming James Bond the last time the franchise needed a new 007. Daniel Craig was chosen instead, but Cavill bounced back from this disappointment and has been enjoying a successful career.
This time around, he may be too old for the part of Bond, which is ironic considering that he was seen as too young when Craig was cast.
Although he hasn’t played James Bond, Cavill has played a couple of other secret agents in his career, most notably in Guy Ritchie’s movie adaptation of the 1960s TV show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a stylish thriller set during the Cold War. Cavill plays an American secret agent named Napoleon Solo who teams up with a Russian spy to dismantle a criminal organization with plans of nuclear terrorism.
In some ways, it’s like a Sean Connery-era Bond movie made with the spectacle of Daniel Craig’s tenure. Cavill also plays a spy in Argylle, although there’s an argument to be made that Argylle damages Cavill’s chances of playing Bond.
He is also set to star in Guy Ritchie’s World War II spy comedy, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
6Tom Hiddleston
The Night Manager (2016)
The Night Manager is a TV show rather than a movie, but it still shows why Tom Hiddleston could easily step into the role of 007.
Based on the novel of the same name by legendary spy thriller author John le Carré, The Night Manager features Hiddleston as a hotelier in Cairo who is recruited by the British government to capture an arms dealer, played by Hugh Laurie.
The intoxicating dynamic between Hiddleston and Laurie is part of what makes the show work as well as it does, but it also has a great script adapted from one of le Carré’s most popular books.
There have been persistent rumors about a potential season 2 of The Night Manager over the years, but Tom Hiddleston has plenty of other projects in the meantime.
He has fallen down the list of favorites to play James Bond, and he is probably too old for what the producers are looking for, given that he is now in his 40s.
He could have been ideal for the role if Daniel Craig had quit about a decade or so earlier. Another season of The Night Manager could be the only opportunity for Hiddleston to play a similar role.
5Regé-Jean Page
The Gray Man (2022)
Regé-Jean Page’s name is constantly coming up in fan speculation about who could be the next James Bond, and it’s clear to see why he’s considered as one of the front-runners.
Page is most famous for his role as Simon in season 1 of Bridgerton, but he declined to return to the show so that he could pursue other projects instead.
As well as having a role in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Page also starred in Netflix’s The Gray Man alongside Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas.
Although The Gray Man received mixed reviews, it still represented a big step in Page’s career. Gosling is the one who’s in more of a James Bond role, with Page playing the part of a corrupt CIA official who hires a mercenary assassin to take him down.
There’s a chance that he could reprise his role in the upcoming sequel, but this hasn’t been confirmed. So far, Page hasn’t yet had a role where he plays a secret agent himself. Even if he isn’t cast as Bond, The Gray Man suggests that he could play other characters in the franchise in the future.
4James Norton
Rogue Agent (2022)
James Norton isn’t as well-known as some of the other names being suggested for Bond 26. He has made a name for himself in British TV shows such as Happy Valley and Grantchester, but he hasn’t appeared in many major movies, especially not in central roles.
His role in Netflix’s Rogue Agent opposite Gemma Arterton is one of his few starring roles, and it shows what he could do if the Bond franchise took a gamble on him. The movie flew under the radar to a certain degree, and this won’t have helped Norton’s chances too much.
Inspired by an unbelievable true story, Rogue Agent is a gripping drama about a dangerous con artist who convinces people that he’s an MI5 agent, but his true past is far more disturbing. Norton swaggers about with unbridled confidence and the dapper charm to match.
He also starred in Mr. Jones, which isn’t technically a spy movie, but his character has to employ a lot of similar tactics to Bond as he tries to unravel the layers of conspiracy and deceit while visiting Stalin’s Soviet Union in the 1930s. Both Rogue Agent and Mr. Jones prove that Norton could be a fantastic choice for Bond 26.
3Robert Pattinson
Tenet (2020)
Ever since taking on the role of Batman, it has seemed less and less likely that Robert Pattinson will be suiting up for Bond 26. He has the good looks and charisma required for 007, but he may have missed his chance.
This won’t be too much of a loss for him, as his career continues to grow. As well as his starring role in The Batman, Pattinson has appeared in The Lighthouse, lent his voice to the English dub of The Boy and the Heron, and he is set to lead Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, a sci-fi thriller shrouded in mystery set for early 2025.
Even if he won’t be the next James Bond, Robert Pattinson played a secret agent in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. John David Washington portrays the protagonist, an ex-CIA agent who is recruited by a top-secret organization.
Tenet divided critics and fans alike with its complex sci-fi narrative, but it delivers on some stunning visuals and top-notch action scenes, as one might expect from Nolan.
The director has been public about his desire to take on a James Bond movie at some point, but he has become accustomed to a certain level of control, so Tenet could be as close as he gets.
2Harris Dickinson
The King’s Man (2021)
Harris Dickinson has always been a long shot for the role of James Bond, but his performance in The King’s Man provides evidence that he should be a more serious candidate.
The prequel story to the Kingsman franchise tells the origin story of the top-secret British spy organization during the First World War.
Dickinson plays a young aristocrat named Conrad who is part of his father’s spy network before enlisting in the military and being sent to the front lines in France. After his shocking death, the movie switches focus more toward Ralph Fiennes, who plays his father.
Before Conrad’s death in the trenches, Dickinson has a few moments in The King’s Man which offer a glimpse at what he would look like as James Bond.
He’s part of the movie’s most exciting and dynamic scene, the ballet-inspired fight scene with Rasputin, and he has a few scenes without any action that also show him as a suave and charming secret agent.
Had his character survived, he could at the very least have taken a starring role in The King’s Man 2: The Traitor King. The cast for the sequel remains a mystery.
1Tom Hardy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
Tom Hardy was one of the favorites to replace Daniel Craig for a long time, but his name has fallen down the list of the most likely candidates in recent years.
If he is too old to be the James Bond that the franchise is looking for, then at least he has Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to his name, one of the best John le Carré movie adaptations, and one of the best spy thrillers of the 21st century by any measure.
Gary Oldman plays George Smiley, a spymaster who has to uncover a mole at the highest levels of British Intelligence before agents are picked off one by one.
Tom Hardy plays one of Smiley’s trusted agents whose attempts to uncover the mole throw him into mortal peril. The movie has a lot of characters it needs to divide its attention between, but Hardy’s scenes stand out as some of the most dynamic.
Rather than pacing about the halls of MI5, Hardy is a resourceful field agent whose work takes him all over Europe.
Of all the spies and intelligence officers in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, he is the only one that resembles James Bond in some way, although it seems increasingly unlikely that he won’t be in Bond 26.
