As one of the most coveted roles in cinema, the casting speculation for James Bond doesn’t even wait for the part to be vacated before kicking into high gear.
From the second Daniel Craig announced that No Time to Die would be his final outing as the iconic secret agent, a bevvy of names immediately entered the conversation, and we’ve now reached a point where even the rumored candidates seem to be under the impression that there’s already been a winner secretly chosen.
Taron Egerton came right out and said as much, while there’s been a lot of chatter surrounding Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the number one name on the wish-list at Eon Productions. However, director Martin Campbell – who helmed two of 007’s greatest-ever adventures through GoldenEye and Casino Royale – revealed to The Express that he isn’t buying it for a second.
“Let me tell you, it’s bullsh*t mostly. 98 percent of it is bullsh*t. It’s rubbish, honestly, it is. I’m sure what they’ve done is thrown some names about…they don’t rush it. There’s no, ‘Oh god we’ve got to make the next one!’ They take their time as they want to get it right. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson as producers are terrific.
The new one is a real test of course because now we’ve lost Daniel who is probably the most influential in a funny way. I mean, obviously, Connery was, but certainly the most from a contemporary standpoint, Daniel made the biggest impression because so much changed for him. So I think they’ll be taking their time to assess who’s the next Bond and when they’d do the next one. Normally three years I think.”
Campbell knows the franchise better than most, even if he did upset a lot of Henry Cavill supporters by explaining why he won’t be the one stepping into the tux, but given that we know almost nothing about the next iteration of James Bond, it isn’t exactly a stretch to believe that the race remains wide open.