Pierce Brosnan had a perm.Įjiofor's Bond would, you feel, make for a more cerebral spy than Craig's man mountain. George Lazenby was a car salesman turned chocolate advert mascot who bumped into Broccoli at the barbers. Sean Connery was an undistinguished jobbing actor best known for fighting leprechauns in Disney’s begorrah-and-blimey Irish tale Darby O’Gill and the Little People. Look at where past Bonds were in their careers when they got the gig. Traditionally, it’s been a role which elevates actors to the A-list rather than being an A-list vehicle. I don’t know who’s evolving at a faster pace.'Īlong with these pointers, there are a few Bond casting orthodoxies to guide us. 'Bond is evolving just as men are evolving. The character of Bond will likely go further down the line which Craig's iteration started down, one which 'cracked Bond open emotionally'. 'A lot of people think, 'Oh yeah, it’d be fun to do one,'' Broccoli said. Most pressingly, it needs to be someone who's ready to knuckle under for the long haul. The Variety interview also gave us a couple of other pointers as to where Bond might go next, and who could fit the profile. So he's probably thinking, 'Do I really want that thing?' Not everybody wants to do that. And when we cast Bond, it's a 10-, 12-year commitment. 'The thing is, it's going to be a couple of years off. 'We love Idris,' Broccoli told Variety at the end of August. they always go, 'Bond.' And I feel it is beyond me at this juncture.' 'It will definitely satisfy the will of a nation, I'm not going to lie. 'I don't think that playing Bond will satisfy some of my personal goals,' he said on an ep of HBO's The Shop in September 2022. 'We should create roles for women, not just turn a man into a woman,' Broccoli said, a sentiment Craig echoed in a couple of No Time To Die promo interviews.Īnd, just for the avoidance of doubt, Idris Elba – the people's champ – has said pretty definitively that it's not in his plans. Bond 'should be British,” Broccoli said in 2021, and added that “British can be any '.īut he can't – for now, at least – be a woman. So yes: that means James Bond can be non-white. Eventually, when we have to think about it, we’ll find the right person.' 'That’s what is so exciting and fun about this franchise the character evolves. 'It will have to be reimagined, in the way each actor has reimagined the role,' she said. 'That’s why it works for a thirty-something.'īut what makes a Bond? Broccoli says he's now a more mutable figure than he used to be.

'He isn’t some kid out of high school that you can bring in and start off,' said Wilson. We do have a proper iron rule here too: nobody over 40 is getting near the role. He’s probably been in the SAS or something.' He’s a person who has been through the wars, so to speak.

'But trying to visualise it doesn’t work. ' We’ve tried looking at younger people in the past,' Wilson said. He did, though, confirm that they're looking for someone around the same age as Daniel Craig was when he became Bond. The casting process still hasn't started, Bond producer Michael G Wilson said at a BFI event celebrating 60 years since Bond made his debut in Dr No, 'no matter what others tell you'. In fairness, Broccoli had previously stated in May that 'it’s going to take some time'. The much yearned-for moment when the new James Bond is whisked along the Thames in a speedboat feels about as remote as it did just after No Time To Die. To kill some time before we find out for sure, though, we've got some guesses of differing degrees of wildness. You might as well get the Ouija board out to ask the spirit of Cubby Broccoli what he reckons.

The question turns to who will be the next James Bond now he's swapped his Walther PPK for his P45.Īnd really: who knows. No Time To Die has been released, and Daniel Craig has been banged out of MI6.

When does project 007 come out