The Next James Bond

The attached link highlights the top seventeen supposedly in the running. I’ll dearly miss Daniel Craig. He was phenomenal. But who will grab the reigns and make Bond their own?

https://apple.news/AGwmOpr2jQVm2BT5cplwsHA

Will it be a Jane Bond?

I love Idris. Great actor and has swashbuckling, debonair, smouldering good looks. But he’s too old. The Bond family will want an actor that’ll be good for five or more pictures.

My guess and hope is that it’ll be between that Bodyguard (he was amazing; won an Emmy) dude or Mr. Fifty Shades. Both men check all the boxes. 

What do you think? Who do you want as the next Bond?

I honestly don't know the current acting scene well enough. I have heard Henry Cavill mentioned and what little I have seen of him suggests he could do it, but he also commitments to Netflix's The Witcher series and apparently still to DC (for Superman). And as a white, English male, he would be a rather conventional choice 

I need to see more of Idris Elba but I think he would depend on what kind of Bond they are shooting for. He would make a good older Bond in the thick of his career or maybe the twilight but would be a stretch for a "first kill" 007.

For a woman, I have heard Gillian Anderson mentioned. Wonderful actress (I was sold on her right from the first season of X-Files) but, again, would depend on the kind of Bond they are after.

And then there is Lashana Lynch who plays the agent who has taken over the 007 designation in No Time to Die. Obviously, I have not seen that yet, but she was good as Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel. Odds are, she gets offed in No Time to Die (non-Bond 00s have a poor track record in the staying alive department) but who knows? We will see this Fall.

Quote by Ping

I love Idris. Great actor and has swashbuckling, debonair, smouldering good looks. But he’s too old. The Bond family will want an actor that’ll be good for five or more pictures.

My guess and hope is that it’ll be between that Bodyguard (he was amazing; won an Emmy) dude or Mr. Fifty Shades. Both men check all the boxes. 

What do you think? Who do you want as the next Bond?

Did someone mention Idris? *swoons* 

By Mr Fifty Shades do you mean Jamie Dornan? Nice lad and comes from the next town along. Suitably called Holywood! 

Timothy Elephant.

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Timothy Elephant.

🤣

Timothy Olyphant (or Elephant) is a few years older than Idris so may be disqualified from a long-time franchise for age reasons like Ping sed. He's a brilliant actor, all the same!

Tom Hardy? Still a bit older than Craig was when he picked up the key to the Aston, though. Craig was 38 when he took on the role and Hardy is 45. And, interestingly, Henry Cavill turns 38 next year. Or might they want to go even younger. A wet behind the ears Bond.

I think maybe Kellan Lutz (36)or Jackson Rathbone(36) would make a great Bond 

Shemar Moore would make a great Bond too even being 51 the dude has same skills . 

Both would draw a crowd and easy on the eyes too

Elephant in an Aston has to be the funniest thing I have read today

Quote by DenimAngel

Kellan Lutz (36)

Quote by Mendalla

Quote by DenimAngel

Kellan Lutz (36)

Well, if we are bringing in Twilight stars, why not Robert Pattinson? 35, English, a good-looking heart throb who is also a fairly good actor. Only problem might be how committed he is to playing Batman. If Warner has locked him in for multiple films in that franchise, then he might not be interested in a second franchise.

Good point I didn't think of Robert with him being the new Batman .

I actually have a longstanding idea to write a fanfic about Bond going to Gotham City on a mission and meeting Batman. Never figured out the villain, but probably some combo of a classic Batman villain and SPECTRE. I was thinking Batman : The Animated Series or maybe Michael Keaton for my Bruce Wayne-Batman and Timothy Dalton (roughly the same time period) as Bond. Though 1966 Batman (Adam West) meeting 70s Bond (Roger Moore) could be a lighter, more entertaining take on it, too.

The best Bond that never was, Patrick McGoohen. Apparently he was offered the part but turned it down. How cool is that. Way to go Number 6 BCNU

Quote by Verity

The best Bond that never was, Patrick McGoohen. Apparently he was offered the part but turned it down. How cool is that. Way to go Number 6 BCNU

And saw this story on my MSN news page today and thought of this thread. Weirdest casting idea: The Rock. Yep, Dwayne Johnson as 007. Definitely would put it into the campy, Roger Moore era style, I suspect, but does he really need another action franchise since he's in F&F? And a neat bit of trivia: Johnson's grandfather had a bit part in You Only Live Twice.

MGM Has Begun the Search for the Next James Bond (movieweb.com)

And apparently, Rege-Jean Page of Bridgerton is being talked about a lot. Kind of fits. A hot, up and coming star in his thirties would probably be a good choice for 007. However, he has also been cast as Simon Templar in a reboot of The Saint (the role that more or less was Roger Moore's audition for Bond) so if that goes franchise, then maybe he's spoken for. Or maybe he will follow in Moore's footsteps.

My choice would be Tom Hiddleston. If The Saint was Moore’s Bond audition, The Night Manager was Hiddleston’s, and he nailed it. He checks all the boxes for Bond.

Quote by magnificent1rascal

My choice would be Tom Hiddleston. If The Saint was Moore’s Bond audition, The Night Manager was Hiddleston’s, and he nailed it. He checks all the boxes for Bond.

He is certainly one of the obvious choices, but that's precisely why he might get bypassed. Craig was not the obvious choice at the time he was cast, but clearly fit the direction Eon and MGM wanted to go. So an obvious choice like Cavill or Hiddleston just might not be what they are after. But I would certainly love to see him get a go at the part.

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How would you get an elephant in an Aston Martin?😲

In the Trunk? 🤔

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In the Trunk? 🤔

Ack, my old jokes are coming back to haunt me. 🤣

MGM and Eon seem to be no closer to casting Bond today than they were when we started this thread. I haven't even really heard any new casting rumours in a while.

My choice would be Robbie Williams!

Quote by AnnaMayZing

My choice would be Robbie Williams!

There was some video of his that had me going, "This is an audition to play Bond, isn't it?" Forget which one but it was quite a while ago. Another one who would really depend on whether they want a new, wet behind the ears Bond starting out or the ongoing adventures of a veteran agent. Robbie is getting up there so would work for the latter, not so much the former.

Quote by Mendalla

There was some video of his that had me going, "This is an audition to play Bond, isn't it?" Forget which one but it was quite a while ago.

That would be 'Millennium' that I posted in the 'What are you listening to?' thread a few days ago. See also my new Advert thread for the Café Royale ad.

They are both very tongue in cheek and Robbie possibly would not make the cut. I do think, however, that his version is very reminiscent of the Sean Connery/Roger Moore era.

Bond being tongue in cheek depends, for me, on how it is tongue in cheek. 007 lobbing quips and verbal bombs along with bullets is one thing. As long as they are well-written and delivered, I am down with that. What put me off in the Moore years was the proliferation of dumb sight gags (remember the pigeon double take in Moonraker) and mediocre, throwaway lines.

So Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been the latest object of speculation, though he denies that things are as far along as rumours suggested. They basically had him with contract in hand ready to sign. Seems like a good choice, though, if it happens. 33, good looking, already done some action and franchise work. Former 007s George Lazenby and Pierce Brosnan have both endorsed him.

So apparently a new bio of Ian Fleming claims the idea of a female Bond was floated in the early days before Sean Connery was ultimately cast. Susan Hayward was the actress put forward by Gregory Ratoff, a producer involved in an early attempt at filming Casino Royale as the first Bond film. Apparently, and interestingly, longtime Bond star (7 films) Roger Moore was also on the short list for that one. Would have been interesting to see a younger Moore in the role for sure. Of course, Fleming famously did not like the choice of Sean Connery, who ultimately was the first actor to play the character.

New twist in the plot: After 26 films, the Broccoli family and the Eon Productions are stepping aside. For the history of the series, MGM has been the distributor (occasionally taking on other partners) with Eon producing. MGM was acquired by Amazon who have been itching to get the rights for themselves, thinking the series has franchise potential (TV spinoffs and that sort of thing). And the Broccolis and Amazon have finally come to a deal. Eon remains a partner, but Amazon MGM will now produce the movies (and other media properties) directly. Of course, the Fleming estate famously have had nothing to do with the movies or Eon in, well, eons so that none of the books written by other authors (Kingsley Amis, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, and more) after Fleming's death in 1964 have been available to the film producers. Whether Amazon might try to patch up relations with the estate remains to be seen.

Which is all to say that casting a new Bond might now have to wait until Amazon gets things moving on their version of Bond. The idea of a Marvel-style "universe" around Bond seems a bit ridiculous given the series is tightly focused on one specific character, but suggestions have been floated in the past for stories about side characters like Bond's CIA buddy Felix Leiter and the Bond comics currently being produced by Dynamite Comics have gone there.

The other thing hanging over it all, and some are suggesting this is why Eon did the deal now, is that there is only a decade left on Bond's copyright, at least on the Fleming novels, which means that in 2035, the door opens for rival Bonds.