The battle for James Bond: Forget about Jacob Elordi, this is what it’ll take to be 007

The thing you need to know about Deuxmoi is that it’s more unreliable than not, including the completely unsubstantiated claim that Jacob Elordi has been cast as the next James Bond.

Deuxmoi is an Instagram gossip page that often passes on verbatim without verification anonymous tips that are emailed in. A lot of these are just celebrity sightings in the wild, sometimes accompanied by a camera-phone photo of so-and-so walking out of here-and-there.

Occasionally, very rarely, the source was legit and the item has proven to be true, but more often than not, it’s just a random having a laugh.

Like, you (yes, you, personally) could send in an anonymous tip that Miles Teller owns 400 pairs of Swedish clogs, and that he secretly funds a collectors’ convention in Malmo, and Deuxmoi might publish that.

So, the fact that Deuxmoi posted a week ago that “Amazon have (sic) offered Elordi the Bond role. Filming starts in October this year”, it shouldn’t have triggered an online paroxysm.

But it did, and that’s because, firstly, Elordi is hot property at the moment. His face is everywhere thanks to a robust promotional tour for Wuthering Heights, and he’s up for his first Oscar.

The other part is that guessing who the next James Bond will be is a sport at this point.

The role is one of the most high-profile in pop culture and everyone has an opinion on who and what makes a good 007. There are few creations more iconic than the British superspy who has fronted 25 official Bond movies across more than six decades. It is one of the most enduring franchises in cinematic history.

Run a straw poll in any group of people and ask them who has been the best Bond and you’ll invariably get different answers – Sean Connery was so debonair, Daniel Craig gave him a modern edge, Roger Moore played into the humour, Pierce Brosnan was slick, Timothy Dalton was gritty and George Lazenby was underrated.

It’s been more than four years since Craig permanently retired from the assignment with No Time To Die (six years since it was filmed but the release was delayed until late-2021 because of Covid), and that vacuum has created a feverish market for speculation on who will slip on that tuxedo and grip the Walther PPK.

By the time a new Bond movie is released, likely not before the end of 2027 at the earliest, it will be the longest gap between films since the six years and five months between the last Dalton outing and Brosnan’s first.

Each previous Bond actor has brought something different to the role, and their interpretations of the character have been grounded in the context of their era. That’s why you’ll never get a Bond quite like Connery’s again, and that’s not a bad thing because no one wants a facsimile or a sexist hero.

The idea that Elordi could be in the frame for the role has been highly divisive this past week and that level of giddy excitement to fervent objection reflects how invested people are in the character. Icons tend to have that effect.

One of the main arguments against Elordi is that he’s too tall. At 196cm, he is a distinctive presence in every room and would struggle to blend in – in theory, anonymity is crucial for an undercover spy who is sometimes called on to slip in and out of crowds, but realistically, Bond has never been a wallflower. He does have that penchant for telling everyone his full name.

The stronger point against Elordi is that he’s not British. OK, there has previously been an Australian Bond, albeit only for one film, and Brosnan is Irish, so it’s not as if the franchise hasn’t cast outside of the UK before.

But, hear us out, there is little chance of this happening right now.

The long-time stewards of the Bond movies were Barbara Broccoli and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson. Broccoli’s father, Albert R. Broccoli, founded Eon Productions that made all the canonical Bond films, and had negotiated the screen rights from Ian Fleming.

MGM Studios owned 50 per cent of the Bond movies and distribution rights and when it was bought by Amazon in 2022, that stake transferred to the e-commerce giant.

After No Time To Die, it was up to Broccoli and Wilson to cast a new actor and relaunch the films, and there were reported disagreements between them and MGM’s new owners, apparently over Amazon’s desire to expand the franchise with TV spin-offs and more.

The half-siblings were steadfastly opposed to anything that would dilute Bond’s association with cinema but a year ago they finally relented and sold their creative control for a payout while still retaining their financial stake in the brand.

But what this means is that an American tech giant is now in charge of a quintessentially British icon (Broccoli and Wilson have dual US-British citizenship). Amazon hired two very well-regarded producers to oversee the next chapter of Bond – American Amy Pascal and Brit David Heyman, who hired Denis Villeneuve, a French-Canadian director, and Steven Knight, an English screenwriter.

That crew would be highly sensitive to the furore it would kick off not just in the UK but around the world if they cast a non-Brit as the next Bond. Even someone from the Commonwealth, like Elordi, would be pushing it too far.

Another reason that the Deuxmoi post rings false is Villeneuve is incredibly busy right now on post-production of the third Dune movie, which is due for release in December, and Knight has not yet turned in the screenplay for Bond 26.

By all industry accounts, including from the well-connected Matt Belloni of The Town podcast, no casting decisions have been made, and won’t be until the Northern Hemisphere summer at the earliest.

There is also the consideration that anyone who signs up to be Bond will be locked in for at least a decade. It’ll be a multi-picture commitment as well as, also via Belloni, streaming projects.

Elordi is in-demand right now and he’s also a performer who has expressed a desire to be artistically led on his choices. Given the exalted position he’s in now, would he really want to be locked into a franchise for the next at least 10 years, and risk the backlash for not being British?

So, if not Elordi, then who?

The consensus seems to be that the next Bond will be younger, someone in the range of 27 to maybe 38 at top end. This will give them at least a decade without seeming too old. Craig was 51 when he filmed No Time To Die, and Moore was 57 by his last Bond film and he looked it.

This rules out a host of previous leading contenders to replace Craig when he was still in the role, including Idris Elba (53), Tom Hiddleston (45), Tom Hardy (48), Eddie Redmayne (44), Aiden Turner (42), Theo James (41) and James Norton (40).

Others such as Richard Madden (39) and Henry Cavill (42) probably tired of waiting in the wings and ended up playing spies in other projects including Citadel and Argylle respectively. Also worth noting, in Elba’s last appearance as Luther, the tweed coat-wearing detective went off to work for Britain’s intelligence service. Zing!

You should also strike anyone who is famous for playing other icons, such as Tom Holland (29) who cannot be both Spider-Man and James Bond, and Robert Pattinson (39) who will return for a second round as Batman. Paapa Essiedu (35) has been mentioned by some but he’s just signed on to 10 years of playing Professor Snape in the Harry Potter TV show.

There was a wild rumour that Timothee Chalamet was in the race, largely due to his connection to Villeneuve – they’ve made three Dune movies together – but you could not name another American actor who is more American than Chalamet, despite his half-French heritage. So, forget that.

Apart from being young, the next Bond needs to be convincing as a physical fighter. Someone who can throw a punch, MacGyver his way out of a situation and be scrappy if needed. No offence to Jack Whitehall, who was never in the running, but probably not someone from a comedic background.

The franchise loves to cast an up-and-comer who doesn’t come with too much baggage of being recognised from a host of other mainstream roles (Craig was better known for indie productions when he was cast), so someone like Aaron Taylor-Johnson (35), who reportedly screen-tested a few years ago, might be past that stage of his career.

They also have to be a good enough actor to sell the emotional scenes because we’re well past the era when Bond is a stoic wise-cracker who never shows his feelings. After Craig elevated Bond’s vulnerability, there’s no coming back from it.

He also needs to have an edge beyond the physical strength, like Bond could be a little mean, a little ruthless, like he could hurt your feelings. He’s an assassin, remember.

So, who’s in the running that embodies all those qualities necessary in Bond?

CALLUM TURNER (36)

Also known as Mr Dua Lipa, Turner is an odds-on favourite. He looks the part with his strong jawline and intense gaze, and is on the cusp of household name recognition for people over 50. He’s been in the likes of Fantastic Beasts, Masters of the Air, Eternity and Emma, but has yet to really cement his status as a leading man. This could be his shot.

HARRIS DICKINSON (29)

He’s tall but not too tall, and a talented thespian who has proven himself as a versatile actor in the likes of Babygirl, Triangle of Sadness and The Iron Claw. He’s carried off an action role in The King’s Man and was an antagonist in Where the Crawdads Sing. But he is currently filming a role as John Lennon in Danny Boyle’s four-part The Beatles movies.

DAMSON IDRIS (34)

Idris had a blazing year as the co-lead to Brad Pitt in F1, and there is denying that he is chock-full of charisma and verve. Despite several seasons of TV series Snowfall under his belt, he’s still considered an up-and-comer so the Bond producers could really mould Idris’s public image as Bond. He also looks damn good in a suit.

JACK LOWDEN (35)

Aka Mr Saoirse Ronan, Lowden is a Scot so shares the same background as Bond. He’s been on the bubble for years having done the likes of Dunkirk, Mary Queen of Scots and War & Peace, but he really broke out on Slow Horses. He has the upcoming Pride & Prejudice miniseries and we all know Mr Darcy can be a little stern, just like Bond.

ARCHIE MADEKWE (31)

He’s from South London and was this year nominated for a BAFTA Rising Star award. He’s been in the likes of Saltburn and Midsommar and led the surprisingly good Gran Turismo film. Most recently, his performance as a music star in the indie film Lurker earnt him a lot of plaudits.

JOSH O’CONNOR (35)

This is more wish fulfilment than anything else because it does not seem Bond is something the crafts-loving, lowkey O’Connor would want to do. But he’s incredibly agile as a performer, and has more than a few lovable dirtbag characters in his arsenal (Challengers, La Chimera). But O’Connor always seems more comfortable in an auteur indie with the likes of Alice Rohrwacher and Kelly Reichardt than in a big Hollywood franchise. Although he is one of the leads in Steven Spielberg’s alien epic this year.

DANIEL KALUUYA (37)

He’s an Oscar winner and maybe with the likes of Get Out and Black Panther under his belt, he’s almost too famous for 007. But Kaluuya has the perfect mix of physical presence, emotional vulnerability, playfulness and quiet dignity for Bond, and if consider his performances in the likes of Queen & Slim and Nope, you know he can more than carry this off.

WILL POULTER (33)

Poulter is a former child actor who’s really built a second wind as an adult in the likes of Midsommar, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans and as a recurring guest star on The Bear. He showed his action chops in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and his snarky side in Death of a Unicorn.

DEV PATEL (35)

Patel always had the acting chops and the physical stature to be Bond, someone who’s comfortable in dramas and comedy, but the one question hanging over him was could he get down and dirty as an action star? The answer was a resounding yes when he really threw down in violent epic Monkey Man, a film he also wrote and directed.