Who Will Be The Next James Bond? Here’s Every Actor In The Running

We may finally be getting an answer. Amazon MGM Studios is deep into the search for Craig’s successor, with actors including Callum Turner, Jack Lowden, and Jacob Elordi among the names in the mix. But this isn’t just another Bond casting call. For the first time in decades, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who produced the last nine Bond films, aren’t running the show. Amazon took creative control of the Ian Fleming spy franchise in 2025, handing the keys to a new team that will decide not only who plays 007, but what the next era looks like.

So, who’s actually in the running? Has the next Bond already been chosen? And when will we finally find out? Here’s what we know so far.

Amazon bought MGM for US$8.5 billion in 2021, but that deal didn’t give the company full control of 007. Broccoli and Wilson kept creative control of the franchise, while Amazon held a 50 per cent stake and distribution rights.

That changed in 2025, when Amazon MGM Studios and Broccoli and Wilson formed a joint venture to manage the Bond franchise. All three retained ownership, but creative control shifted to Amazon after the studio invested another US$1 billion.

That makes this Bond search unlike any in the modern era. Broccoli and Wilson are no longer choosing the actor who will take over the role. Instead, that decision is being made by a new team led by director Denis Villeneuve, casting director Nina Gold, and producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman.

Gold is handling casting. Her credits include Game of Thrones, The Crown, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Martian, and Conclave. She was also recently nominated for an Oscar for casting Hamnet, which starred Paul Mescal.

The new film started taking shape in 2025, when Pascal and Heyman came aboard as producers. Villeneuve was announced as director soon after, followed by Knight as screenwriter. The formal casting search began in spring 2026. Filming is expected to begin in 2027, with the movie currently targeting a 2028 release, according to Deadline.

Not yet. Amazon confirmed in May that the search for Craig’s replacement was officially underway, but the studio hasn’t announced a shortlist or named the next 007. Amazon has also said it won’t comment on specific casting details while the process is underway.

That doesn’t mean things aren’t happening behind the scenes. The first round of auditions is reportedly finished, and Villeneuve, Pascal, and Heyman have been contacting actors about the next round. Earlier reports suggested that anywhere from five to seven actors could screen-test, while other estimates put the number in the teens. There’s still no official word on exactly how many actors remain, but after years of rumours, the search appears to be moving into its final stages.

Lowden is having a pretty good run in the Bond rumour department. The Slow Horses star got an unexpected boost from his co-star Gary Oldman, who recently claimed that the next Bond has already been chosen and said he has his “fingers crossed” for Lowden. The Scottish actor plays MI5 agent River Cartwright in the Apple TV+ series, earning two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination for the role. He’s also appeared in Dunkirk and Mary Queen of Scots. In an interview with Canada’s Global, Oldman said, “They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet.” Oldman’s comments aren’t confirmation, but they certainly gave Lowden’s Bond campaign a boost.

Turner has been in the Bond conversation for so long that the rumours have almost become part of his résumé. The 36-year-old British actor has appeared in the Fantastic Beasts films, Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air, and the romantic comedy Eternity. He has the blockbuster experience, leading-man looks, and action credentials to make him an easy fit for the role, without being too closely associated with one particular franchise. He has also kept relatively quiet about the speculation, essentially saying he knows as much about the casting as everyone else.

If Amazon wants a Bond audiences don’t already have a strong opinion about, Barton would certainly fit the bill. At 31, the British actor is relatively unknown compared with many of the other names in the mix. You might recognise him from Netflix’s Heartstopper and Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, but he’s yet to lead a major studio film. He also has a connection to the new Bond team through Knight’s SAS: Rogue Heroes series. That combination, young, British, relatively under the radar, and already connected to the screenwriter, has made Barton one of the more intriguing names to emerge from the search.

Elordi would bring something different to the next Bond era: an actual movie star. The 29-year-old Australian went from The Kissing Booth to Euphoria and then increasingly prestige-focused films, including Priscilla, Saltburn, and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. He also starred in the 2026 adaptation of Wuthering Heights opposite Margot Robbie. There’s little question that Elordi has the profile for a franchise of Bond’s size. The bigger question is whether Amazon wants someone audiences already know that well. His Australian nationality would also make him a departure from the usual British Bond, although George Lazenby was Australian when he played the role in 1969.

Mescal would be a more left-field choice. The Irish actor became a breakout star with Normal People, earned an Oscar nomination for Aftersun, and went on to lead Gladiator II. He most recently played William Shakespeare in Hamnet and is set to take on Paul McCartney in Mendes’s Beatles films, alongside Dickinson as John Lennon. He doesn’t have much of a traditional action résumé, but Mescal has quickly become one of his generation’s most in-demand actors.

The Bond speculation has produced plenty of names over the years, including Idris Elba, James Norton, and Theo James. Other names have continued to pop up, including Henry Cavill, who auditioned for Casino Royale before Craig got the part, and Tom Holland, who has openly said he would like to play Bond. Regé-Jean Page, Richard Madden, Josh O’Connor, and Jonathan Bailey have also appeared in various rounds of speculation. But there is a difference between being a popular fan choice and being part of the current casting process.

Possibly before the end of the year. Pascal recently told Deadline that an announcement by the end of 2026 is “a good bet”, saying the team is being “really, really methodical” about the decision. That timeline would give Amazon, Villeneuve, and the producers several months to make a final choice, negotiate a deal, and get ready for production.

After years of speculation, the Bond search is finally starting to look less like a guessing game and more like an actual casting process. And if the latest reports are right, the biggest surprise may be that the next James Bond isn’t the biggest name in the running.