The hunt enters its final phase
Five years after Daniel Craig bowed out as 007, the search for the next James Bond is reaching its decisive moment. The final contenders are assembling in London for screen tests this weekend, according to reports — a development that could bring one of cinema's longest-running casting sagas to a close within days.
The Hollywood Reporter has claimed that Callum Turner, whose credits include the Apple TV series Masters of the Air, and Slow Horses star Jack Lowden are due to take part. Josh O'Connor, who played Prince Charles in The Crown, is also said to be in the running, with up to two other actors potentially involved. At least four test offers have been made, insiders told Deadline, and as many as five actors may test in total.
The tests could begin as early as Friday, according to PA Media — and by Monday, the most secretive casting process in cinema may finally be over.
An Aston Martin DB5 as seen in the James Bond film Skyfall
Credit: DeFacto / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Stunts, camera presence, dialogue
According to reports, the screen tests will have three components: stunts, camera presence and dialogue. It is a tried-and-tested formula for the franchise — previous Bonds, including Craig himself, endured gruelling audition processes designed to test whether an actor could carry the physical demands of the role alongside its trademark suavity. The three reported frontrunners each bring different strengths to that test. Turner, 35, has action credentials from Masters of the Air; Lowden, 36, has spent seasons playing a Bond-adjacent figure in the spy drama Slow Horses; and O'Connor, 30, brings the period-drama gravitas of The Crown and a recent turn opposite Emily Blunt in Steven Spielberg's thriller Disclosure Day. Amazon, whose Amazon MGM Studios will make the next Bond film, has declined to confirm the specifics. A company spokesman pointed to earlier statements confirming the search was under way: "While we don't plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we're excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right."
Who is out of the race
Just as significant as the names in the frame are the names reportedly no longer in it. Jacob Elordi, the Oscar-nominated Euphoria star who had been linked to the role in the spring, is not testing, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Jack O'Connell, who appeared in the films Sinners and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, is said to have dropped out as well. Others previously connected to the part included Jack Barton of the BBC drama SAS: Rogue Heroes — notably written by Bond scribe Steven Knight — and Gladiator II's Paul Mescal. Whether any of them remain in contention is unclear, but the weekend's tests will narrow the field decisively. The winnowing is a reminder of how the Bond rumour mill works: dozens of names surface, a handful get tested, and the final decision is usually made in near-total secrecy.
A new era under Amazon
Whoever walks away with the licence to kill will be leading the franchise into uncharted territory. Amazon MGM Studios bought the creative rights to 007 from the Broccoli family in 2025, ending the longtime stewardship of producers and half-siblings Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, whose family produced all 25 main films in the series. The transition has not been without tension. In December 2024, the Wall Street Journal reported that Broccoli had privately told friends that the Amazon team were "f***ing idiots" — a sign of the creative anxieties that accompanied the handover of one of cinema's crown jewels. The new film, as yet untitled, will be directed by Dune filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, with Harry Potter producer David Heyman working alongside producer Amy Pascal. It is a heavyweight team, assembled to reassure fans that the franchise is in serious cinematic hands despite the change of ownership.
'Something really different'
Pascal has given the clearest public indication of what the producers are looking for — and when they will reveal it. She told Deadline earlier this year that an announcement by the end of the year was "a good bet", and in August she said the spy would be recruited before the end of this year. "Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow," she said. "And it's got to be something really different that is stirring and exciting and different." Craig held the role from 2006's Casino Royale until 2021's No Time To Die — five films across 15 years that took the character into darker, more psychologically complex territory than ever before. His successor will inherit both the biggest action franchise in film and the impossible task of making the role feel new again. Sources said in April that the new Bond will be younger than previous incumbents, which would fit the reported finalists — all in their early to mid-thirties. Lowden emerged as a frontrunner in the autumn, and in September his Slow Horses co-star Gary Oldman claimed the next Bond had already been chosen — a claim that, if true, would make this weekend's tests the final formality before an announcement.
The stakes for 007
The Bond franchise is no longer just a film series; under Amazon it is a strategic asset in the streaming wars, with spin-offs, merchandise and theme-park ambitions all reportedly on the table. Getting the casting right matters enormously — not just for the next film, but for the next decade of the brand. For fans, this weekend's tests are the moment the speculation ends and the evidence begins. Whoever steps out of the stunt test and into the dialogue test will be one weekend closer to the most famous three words in casting: "the name's Bond". Verity will be following the story as it develops — and you can catch up on this week's entertainment news in our Entertainment section, from the Celebrity Traitors launch to the obituary of Eva Marie Saint and the story of how music shapes The Traitors. The Verity homepage has the day's top stories.
