Another day, another bout of Bond speculation. This week, however, the odds aren’t coming from people betting in Vegas or other places. Instead, artificial intelligence has gotten into its own predicting who will play the next 007 game. And that’s good news for The Witcher actor Henry Cavill.
According to research undergone by Largo.ai, possible actors were assessed in order to determine which individuals might be the most popular with audiences, after comparing the actors’ attributes to 007’s own notable characteristics. It seems people really like the formerly mustachioed Henry Cavill for the role, as he had the highest positivity score for a British actor, improving his chances over other oddsmakers' numbers -- though he has been in the conversation previously.
The data (via Screenrant) also found some other potential winners. All of those highest positive prospects are men, which makes sense, given Barbara Broccoli and co. have already said that James Bond will remain a male character in the pop culture lexicon.
Henry Cavill: 92.3%Richard Armitage: 92%Idris Elba: 90.9%
Outside of British actors, some others were considered, including The Boys’ Karl Urban, who actually beat out Henry Cavill at a whopping 96.7% positivity rate. (He’s also from New Zealand though.) American actors Will Smith and Chris Evans also scored highly, and some women, including Katee Sackhoff and Angelina Jolie, were also included on the list, but again this goes back to the idea that James Bond will likely remain a U.K. character who will most definitely be male.
This list is also very much missing some names that have been bandied about quite a bit in recent months. Making Bond Scottish again has been an option, and Sam Heughan has been happy to casually campaign for the role. Other names that have done well with oddsmakers have included Henry Golding, who even joked about the gig in Last Christmas, Richard Madden from Game of Thrones and The Bodyguard, and even the likes of Tom Hiddleston.
The other major problem with potentially hiring Henry Cavill is that he’s really busy right now. Netflix’s The Witcher takes an extensive amount of time to film and Cavill is the first on the call sheet for that show. Given it’s wildly popular for the streaming service, I see at least several more seasons in that show’s future. I doubt anyone would want to wait to hire the actor as the new Bond in the meantime, given Daniel Craig is currently on his way out the door, but Cavill does really fill out the suit nicely.
So, it’s easy to see why Cavill would be the likable choice. Plus, it’s always fun to do a little speculating, whether or not Henry Cavill could even be in the cards. The actor did, after all, already audition for Bond back when Daniel Craig was also auditioning. (In fact, Cavill was deemed too fat, per his own recollections.) Plus, he’s already gotten his spy on thanks to the underrated Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie from Guy Ritchie. Ultimately, the important thing here is that we’re getting close to the time we get to wave farewell to Craig and welcome in a newcomer. I can’t wait.
To see when No Time To Die and other new releases are finally coming, take a look at our full movies schedule. And keep your eyes peeled. You never know when a new James Bond announcement is just over the horizon.
