Bond’s next 007 should be a fresh face — not Jacob Elordi or Callum Turner

It’s been five years since Daniel Craig’s curtain call in No Time To Die, and audiences are clearly itching for a new Bond to finally emerge. But the answer isn’t just plucking the most famous bloke you can think of off the shelf. In fact, one of the actual producers has now given us a rough timeline for when the next 007 might finally be announced.

Producer Amy Pascal told Deadline, 'I would say the end of the year is a good bet. We are being really, really methodical. Having worked with Barbara Broccoli at the studio, I mean, Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow. And it’s got to be something really different that is a stirring and exciting and different.'

Not Just Another Celebrity Casting

The current frontrunners if you believe every entertainment page out there? Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner, Harris Dickinson, and Tom Holland – all perfectly decent actors, but also already household names, more or less. The rationale is pretty obvious. This’ll be Amazon MGM Studios’ first Bond on their turf, with full creative control. Landing a recognisable star would make headlines, supposedly reassure investors, and get the hype cycle spinning in their favour. I get the logic, even if it feels slightly lazy.

But here’s the thing, and anyone who’s watched Bond over the past twenty-odd years will realise this: it’s rarely about the actor. It’s about Bond – the myth, the swagger, the moral grey area that’s still somehow charming on screen. Cast too famous a face, and the whole thing starts to look like a cover shoot for GQ. It’s Bond who should be walking into those casinos, not "that guy from the Netflix thing".

An Enigma, Not a Celebrity

This isn’t just fan bellyaching, either. Debbie McWilliams – who actually has the job title of former Bond casting director – has pointed out exactly what the character needs to project:

McWilliams summed it up: '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.'

If you slap a household name in the middle of all that, you end up watching the actor, not 007. The role practically requires someone who’s a blank slate to mainstream audiences, so people can project all their Bond baggage onto him without tripping over the last blockbuster he was in. It worked once before: Daniel Craig was hardly Mr Recognisable when he first got the gig – and that anonymity helped create space for him to reinvent Bond over a five-film run. In the end, Craig’s lack of profile worked in the film’s favour, and gave fans room to invest in his Bond instead of the actor’s persona.

James Bond 26 will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, another big swing for the franchise. But if Amazon MGM wants to do things properly, they’ll need to trust that Bond himself is the draw – not the celebrity playing him. The Daniel Craig approach paid off once. They’d be mad not to try it again.

Amazon MGM Studios is expected to announce their new Bond by the end of 2026, seven years after the last film.