The guessing game over who will inherit Daniel Craig’s tuxedo may be closer to its conclusion than anyone outside Eon Productions realises, according to Gary Oldman.
Speaking on Canada’s The Morning Show, the Oscar-winning actor let slip that producers have already settled on their man to become the next 007 — even if the rest of the world is still busy placing bets. “They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet,” Oldman said. “So my fingers are crossed for Jack.”
That “Jack” would be Jack Lowden, his Slow Horses co-star and, in recent weeks, the name climbing rapidly up the bookmakers’ boards as the most likely successor to Craig.
Oldman puts his weight behind a co-star
Oldman, 68, knows a thing or two about the Bond universe. He played MI6 chief Bill Tanner’s predecessor, George Smiley, in the 2011 adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and has spent enough time in the orbit of major franchises to recognise when the machinery is warming.
His endorsement of Lowden carries weight not just because of his own pedigree, but because the pair are currently working together on the hit Apple TV+ espionage series Slow Horses. That proximity, Oldman suggested, has given him a front-row view of Lowden’s suitability for the role.
“It’s been rumoured that he’s on the shortlist,” Oldman said. “We’re going to find out pretty soon, aren’t we? Because they have picked him.”
It is, of course, possible that Oldman is simply enthusiastic rather than informed — but his phrasing was pointed. “Soon” was the word he chose. And in Bond land, even the smallest crumb of insider chatter tends to send the internet into overdrive.
The contenders and the decision-makers
Lowden is far from the only name in circulation. The shortlist, if there is a shortlist, is thought to include Callum Turner (One Night Only), Jacob Elordi (the upcoming Wuthering Heights), and Harris Dickinson (Babygirl) — a trio of actors who have each generated their own wave of online fan campaigns.
Whoever eventually lands the part will be doing so under the watchful eye of a freshly assembled creative team. Amy Pascal and David Heyman are on producing duties, while Denis Villeneuve — the visionary behind Dune and Arrival — has signed on to direct. Villeneuve’s involvement alone has fuelled speculation that the franchise is poised for a more cerebral, auteur-driven reinvention.
The last film in the series, 2021’s No Time to Die, marked Craig’s fifth and final outing as Bond, ending a fifteen-year tenure that began with Casino Royale in 2006. The film took more than $770 million at the global box office, but producers have been quietly rebuilding the operation ever since.
The casting debate that won’t go away
The question of who should play Bond has always provoked strong feelings, but this cycle has felt unusually heated. Debbie McWilliams, the casting director who helped select Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Craig, told The Independent in June that the role demands a very specific quality — mystique.
“It is absolutely essential that he retains a total enigma,” she said. “I don’t want to see [Elordi, Turner, Dickinson et al] as Bond because we now know so much about them. We want to know as little about them personally as possible, because that’s what spies are.”
McWilliams argued that the public’s familiarity with modern actors — their social media footprints, their personal lives, their brand deals — works against the very thing Bond requires. “We don’t need to know where he goes shopping or who his parents are, or where he lives,” she said. “He’s licensed to kill, and we have to believe that he can do that. If you don’t, then you’ve lost the audience.”
It’s a difficult brief. The actor must be famous enough to open a film, yet unknown enough to remain plausible as a shadow operative. Few modern performers fit the bill.
Rory Kinnear, who played Tanner across four of Craig’s films, offered his own take last week. Speaking to The Times, he expressed hope that the new chapter would preserve some element of “continuity” even as the franchise changes tack.
“That’s the exciting thing,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll want to hold on to some continuity, what it means to people. But there’ll be a whole different approach.”
Why it Matters
Bond is more than just a film franchise — it is a cultural barometer, and the casting of a new 007 sends seismic ripples through the industry, the box office, and the wider conversation about what Britain looks like on screen. With Villeneuve at the helm and a creative team clearly eyeing reinvention, the choice of actor will signal which era the producers believe audiences want next. Oldman’s comments, whether gossip or gospel, have only sharpened the anticipation — and made the wait for official confirmation feel, for the first time in years, genuinely finite.
