The role of James Bond has been vacant ever since Daniel Craig finished his run as the iconic character with No Time to Die back in 2021, and actors ranging from Henry Cavill to Benedict Cumberbatch to Bridgerton vet Regé-Jane Page have been floated as candidates for the next Bond. Recent 007 buzz has surrounded Taron Egerton, known on the big screen for the Kingsman films, but he surprisingly said that he doesn't think he'd be a good choice for it. This reminded me of what Egerton told CinemaBlend about working on Apple TV+'s Smoke as his latest small screen venture.
While Egerton is likely best known for his film work, teaming up with Dennis Lehane for the excellent Black Bird back in 2022 resulted in a critical hit over six intense episodes. The duo collaborated for the second time on Smoke, which premiered back in June in the 2025 TV schedule. I won't get deep into spoilers here for any newcomers, but suffice it to say that the drama centered on arson investigations was appealing enough to draw Jurnee Smollett back to TV and wasted no time on dropping a huge reveal about Egerton's character.
With Egerton deeming the James Bond role as "not quite the thing that would make me happiest" (via Collider), I couldn't help but think back on his comments about the appeal of teaming up with Dennis Lehane for television for the second time after Black Bird. When I asked the actor what appealed to him about re-teaming with Lehane, Egerton explained:
Dennis is incredible, and somebody who, when a script lands with me that he's written, the feeling of anticipation and excitement is huge. And to do one show with somebody like that is a privilege, and to get the shot at a second is to be really blessed. It's also just a hugely affirming, validating thing for somebody like him to kind of entrust you with another character, a character that's so different, a character that's such a challenge, and so unique. I consider myself very, very lucky to be in this position with him again.
Working as lead on a TV show – with or without Dennis Lehane – means being trusted with a character for multiple episodes, often resulting in much more time playing one character than would happen even in a film franchise. For example, Taron Egerton's two Kingsman films so far equal out to about 4.5 hours total, whereas Smoke will run for nine episodes. Black Bird ran for six. (Both are available streaming with an Apple TV+ subscription.)
Both Smoke and Black Bird also gave Egerton the chance to share a fair amount of screentime with costars like Paul Walter Hauser (Black Bird) and Jurnee Smollett (Smoke). For Black Bird, Hauser in fact won the Critics Choice Award, Emmy, and Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actor for his work, with Egerton earning Golden Globe and Emmy nominations as Lead Actor.
When I asked Taron Egerton about his experiences working heavily with these two costars, he described them as "Amazing," then went on:
Both of those actors, both Paul Hauser and Jurnee, they have a facility for play and being very alive in the moment, which is the kind of, in my opinion, the prerequisite to a good actor, somebody who can adapt and dance with you. Jurnee's got this amazing quality of being both formidable and intimidating and very charged. She really carries the weight of all of this trauma from her character's past, but she also can find tremendous lightness through all of that, and a real facility for play. So working with her was a real pleasure and a really creatively rewarding experience.
Does Taron Egerton's evident satisfaction in collaborating with Dennis Lehane on TV shows mean that he's giving up on films? Of course not, and it remains to be seen if Smoke will be his last TV project for a few years. Still, his comments about working on the small screen compared to feeling no desire to play James Bond strike me as unique within the entertainment industry.
As a fan of both Black Bird and Smoke, I'm certainly not mad about Egerton's willingness to branch out from film to television when the right project finds him!
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