What a year it’s been for Richard Madden.
The former Game of Thrones star was thrust back into the limelight for the wildly successful Bodyguard, for which he was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama. The BBC series, which is an absolute must-watch if you haven’t seen it, places Madden into the shoes of Sergeant David Budd, an Afghanistan war veteran turned bodyguard whose sole purpose is to safeguard the Home Secretary at all times.
It’s a role that contains a lot of striking parallels with a certain 007, so it’s small wonder why Madden’s name has been tossed into the proverbial hat to be the next James Bond. In fact, according to sources close to the Daily Mail (!), the BBC isn’t about to fast-track season 2 of Bodyguard since Madden’s now among those being eyed to succeed Daniel Craig as the iconic super-spy.
We don’t know if Richard will do series two. It depends what happens with James Bond, we don’t know yet.
While Danny Boyle was initially attached to direct, the so-far untitled Bond 25 remains trapped in stasis, as the Powers That Be continue their search for a new director. That’s still the priority for series producer Barbara Broccoli, and it’ll be some time yet before we know the fate of Craig’s swan song – let alone the identity of the man (or woman?) responsible for Bond 26.
Elsewhere, there’s even been chatter that Rami Malek of Bohemian Rhapsody is being tipped to play the next James Bond villain, which is exciting in and of itself, given the Mr. Robot star is yet to venture into full-blown villain territory on the big screen. Stay tuned for more on that one.
