New 007 Frontrunner Torpedoes Hopes for a Hulking Bond Like Henry Cavill or Alan Ritchson

Well, that escalated fast. The Bond rumor mill just did a hard swerve: while Henry Cavill and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were the clubhouse leaders to slip into the tux, a new name suddenly jumped to the front of the pack — Callum Turner.

So who moved the goalposts?

UK bookmaker Coral told The Standard that Turner has surged to the top of the next-007 odds pretty much overnight. Reminder: betting odds are not casting announcements — they just reflect where money and momentum are going — but a swing this quick is the kind of thing that gets Eon-watchers buzzing.

If you were rooting for a physically massive Bond, this shift suggests the pendulum may be swinging back toward the sleeker, classic silhouette rather than the linebacker build. Not necessarily a bad call — just different from the Cavill/Alan Ritchson fantasy-cast a lot of fans had in their heads.

Where this leaves Henry Cavill

Cavill came painfully close once already — he was right there with Daniel Craig during the Casino Royale hunt — and even he sounds like he can see the window closing. On The Rich Eisen Show, he was asked (again) if he is the next Bond. His answer was very 'we will see,' but also a touch resigned.

"I have no idea. All I've got to go off is the rumors. The same information you have. Maybe I'm too old now, maybe I'm not. It's up to Barbara Broccoli and Mike Wilson and we'll see what their plans are."

With Turner suddenly out in front, Cavill's read on the situation might end up being right, even if fans hate to hear it.

Alan Ritchson, meanwhile, is not waiting for a martini

Ritchson has been a popular fan pick for a bulked-up Bond, but he says he is already playing America's answer to 007 on Prime Video. In an EW chat, he basically framed Reacher as the U.S. counterpart — and said he is having more fun with that character than anything else, especially because he loves big, over-the-top spy thrills and clever heists that stay a step ahead of the audience. Fair point. And after watching him and Cavill roll through Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, you can see why people imagine them as secret agents — arguably Ritchson even more than Cavill.

Quick refresher: the last time we saw Bond

• No Time To Die (2021), directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga
• Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw
• Rotten Tomatoes: 83% critics, 88% audience
• Worldwide box office: $774 million
• Streaming: Prime Video (US); also available to rent on Apple TV

If the Turner surge holds, are you into a more traditionally proportioned Bond this time, or do you still want the franchise to try a physically huge, bruiser take on 007?