When No Time to Die finally hits theaters in April a full twelve months behind schedule, as soon as the credits fade to black on Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond, the focus will almost immediately shift to who will be named as his successor. And as one of the most coveted roles in the business that only a handful of actors have had the privilege to inherit, taking on the mantle of cinema’s most famous secret agent is a potentially life-changing assignment.
Of course, the rumor mill has already been turning for several years now, especially when it looked as though Craig might not even return for a fifth movie after he very publicly flirted with the idea of walking away following Spectre. The usual suspects like Henry Cavill, Tom Hardy and Idris Elba are always in or around the conversation, but 007 expert Dr. Ian Kinane, editor of the academic peer-reviewed publication International Journal of James Bond Studies, thinks that the DCEU’s Superman has become too famous to play the role.
“Everyone was shocked when it was blond Bond Daniel Craig. But everyone saw Pierce Brosnan coming because he auditioned years and years before. Everyone saw Timothy Dalton coming again because he auditioned years and years before. But Cavill is too big. Unfortunately it will not be Idris Elba, even though he is perfect. Jamie Bell is a good choice because he performed in a movie called Film Stars Only Die in Liverpool which was produced by Barbara Broccoli. And Jamie Bell is at the right age that Daniel Craig was when he stepped into the role, so there’s potential there.
I’d also say perhaps James Norton, he was in War and Peace and played the vicar in Grantchester, but he has a particular kind of recognizable Britishness that melded I think with a potential to be hardened in a much the same way Daniel Craig has. And then maybe as a slight outsider we might say Richard Madden who was in Bodyguard, as what was Bodyguard but an audition for James Bond really?”
Cavill has never shied away from admitting he’d love to throw on the tux, having previously made it to the final two when Casino Royale was casting, and he’s now the same age that Daniel Craig was when he first signed on fifteen years ago. Playing Superman, Sherlock Holmes and James Bond simultaneously would be a lot to juggle, but if the actor’s too famous for 007, then presumably Elba and Hardy would be as well.
Roger Moore was arguably the most well-known actor to have played James Bond in terms of pre-existing fame, and while Cavill remains a firm favorite among the fanbase, there’s every chance the producers will be keen to stick with tradition and cast their eyes away from the A-list when the recruitment process starts up again.
