If you can believe it, it's been more than five years since Daniel Craig hung up his tuxedo and holstered his Walther PPK, as his tenure as Jame Bond ended. Though it's been half a decade since our last 007, still waiting on the casting of our next Bond, the plot thickens as Bond 26's writer gets very candid after being asked about casting rumors that have been making the rounds.
It was announced back in February 2025 that the long-running espionage franchise was undergoing major changes as the Broccoli family stepped away and relinquished their longtime hold on the series. Soon after, Amazon-MGM Studios announced it had hired Dune director Denis Villeneuve to direct, with Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight writing the script. In a recent BBC Radio interview, Knight was asked whether, as reported yesterday by Gary Oldman, the next Bond had been picked; he didn't say no. He responded:
It does make life a little bit easier if you know who that person is, but also you have to write the character, not the actor.
That’s definitely not a no. Sure, it's not a yes either. Still, the British screenwriter and director could have easily shut down any confusion on whether or not Oldman’s claims had any merit; instead, he gave a roundabout and sort of cagey response.
And when pressed, if you ask me, he gave an even more telling answer. Asked whether the casting was a good choice, he responded:
I don’t know what you mean. I can’t, I cannot speak about this subject, much as I would dearly love to. [laughs]
Okay, Knight's response has me thinking: Yeah, some young actor probably already got the call and was asked to suit up. I'm betting everything that the screenwriter knows exactly who it is.
In case you missed the coverage, Oldman was interviewed on Global TV’s The Morning Show, and he made it seem like he was pretty certain the next 007 had already been selected and went even further to highlight how much he’s pulling for his Slow Horses co-star, Jack Lowden, to be the next 00 agent. Interestingly, Nina Gold is the casting director for James Bond 26, and she also oversaw casting on Slow Horses. Of course, it's important to remember that nothing has been confirmed about Lowden taking over the role, so don’t expect him to be ordering any vodka martinis, shaken or stirred, just yet.
There have been so many different rumors about which young actors were in the running for Bond ever since Daniel Craig stepped away that I take just about all of them with a massive pinch of salt. Over the last five years, the internet has run wild with speculation about everyone from Aaron Taylor-Johnson being high on the hopeful list to Henry Cavill, Regé-Jean Page, Jacob Elordi, Theo James and more. Producer Amy Pascal announced a casting timeline for Bond 26, saying that by the end of 2026, we might finally learn who the next young star will be to sit behind the wheel of an Aston Martin.
But it does seem as though every other day there is another story making the rounds about a potential casting announcement. Until it's front-page news and announced by MGM/Amazon themselves, I won’t consider anything official. But admittedly, as a lifelong fan of the beloved spy series, it's hard not to get excited by Oldman, and now Knight's response to the lingering question of who the next Bond will be.
Unfortunately, that question still hasn’t been answered, but something tells me we will have our answers before the end of the 2026 movie calendar. Until then, time to revisit all the Bond movies in order, as they’re available to rent or purchase with an Apple TV subscription or Amazon Prime Video subscription.
