With Amazon tapping Denis Villeneuve (Dune, Sicario) to direct the next iteration of the long-running James Bond franchise, the studio is pushing ahead for its 26th outing, eyeing three fresh faces to portray the iconic British Secret Service agent: Jacob Elordi, Tom Holland, and Harris Dickinson.
According to Variety’s insiders, the studio and its producers are looking to cast an actor under the age of 30, with Elordi (Saltburn, Euphoria), Holland (The MCU’s Spider-Man franchise, Uncharted) and Dickinson (Babygirl, The King’s Man) at the top of the list. This unfortunate rules out previous fan-favourites Henry Cavill (The Witcher, Man of Steel) and Idris Elba (Luther, The Suicide Squad) due to the duo’s ages of 42 and 52, respectively.
On the director’s end, Villeneuve secured the position over four other European directors: Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz), Paul King (Paddington) and Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight). According to Variety, two other directorial contenders were also considered, that being Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) and Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), although plans fell through as the former chose to focus on other projects like the Charlize Theron-led Amazon series Jane, while the latter was busy with his upcoming fantasy epic, 2026’s The Odyssey.
Even Villeneuve himself is rather busy of late, with his upcoming threequel Dune: Messiah deep in development to hit its expected December 2026 release date. To this end, his current James Bond deal with Amazon is only a one-off, meaning that he is not locked in for a sequel, and does not have final cut.
With its goal to cast a younger Bond, it seems Amazon’s James Bond is set to bring the character back in time, potentially exploring a brand new origin story, or perhaps providing audiences with a fresher, more inexperienced Bond that gradually evolves into the charming super spy audiences know and love. Well, as long as he takes his martini shaken, and not stirred, that’s completely fine with us.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Yonk
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