About a month ago, a new rumor spread like wildfire online which claimed that Tom Hardy had been cast as the next James Bond. Daniel Craig bows out as 007 in next year’s No Time To Die, but so far we’ve yet to hear who his replacement will be. This story from The Vulcan Reporter, though, claimed that the Venom star had been hired behind the scenes, with the producers waiting to announce his casting until after Bond 25 finally comes out.
Of course, fans have had various reactions to this since then, wondering whether they should believe it or not, but now we’ve at last got an official response to the Hardy rumor. Producer Barbara Broccoli addressed the story while speaking with Total Film and while she didn’t explicitly deny that he’s been cast, she did heavily suggest that the process of finding Craig’s successor has yet to be finalized due to NTTD being held up.
“I always say: you can only be in love with one person at a time,” the producer began. “Once the film’s come out, then some time will pass, and then we’ll have to get on to the business of the future. But for now, we just cannot think about anything beyond Daniel.”
Broccoli then went on to say how the next Bond will definitely have to reimagine the character, whoever they are, to ensure the franchise remains fresh.
“It will have to be reimagined, in the way each actor has reimagined the role. That’s what is so exciting and fun about this franchise; the character evolves. Eventually, when we have to think about it, we’ll find the right person,”
Things got really interesting when she then revealed that she doesn’t see why the super spy has to keep on being a white male. “He doesn’t need to be a white man. Not as far as I’m concerned,” she remarked.
That said, don’t expect a female Bond the next time around. Reiterating something that she’s said before, Broccoli clarified that she would rather invent new strong female characters than gender-swap 007 himself. “We should create roles for women, not just turn a man into a woman,” she said.
Though Broccoli hints that the producers haven’t even considered recasting Craig at this point, we imagine that they’ve at least had some form of discussion about it, or even had preliminary talks with certain actors. And by the sounds of it, Broccoli is entertaining the idea of casting a person of color as the next James Bond. Is it perhaps Idris Elba’s time to shine and not Tom Hardy’s? We’ll have to wait and see.