So it has been almost one year and a half since the last Bond film came out and Daniel Craig has already announced that he is done with this franchise. This leads the fans all over the world speculating who will come up next to serve Her majesty’s secret service. Although not so sure about the film, the new 007 story is confirmed to be released in October of 2018.
Before jumping into wild guesses about the next Bond star, let us first sort out the obvious requirements for having a ‘license to kill”. So far the most explicit requirements indicate that the actor has to be white, physically fit and good-looking with sexual charisma and in most cases, a British national. The Bond star has to sign a contract which binds him for two to three films and during this period, he cannot appear in any other film wearing a tuxedo.
Now to this point, the contest to star as James Bond has grown pretty intense and the names rumored to be in contention include Tom Hiddleston, Aidan Turner, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, James Norton, Jack Huston, Charlie Hunman.
The tall, charming and astonishingly well-dressed Tom Hiddleston has a built-in fan-base because of his brilliant performance as cosmic villain Loki. Recently Tom blew up another BBC spy series The Night’s Manager which earned him a good deal of critics’ favor. But a significant extent of arises about whether Hiddleston will take such an obvious role to act. Some sources also mentioned one of the Bond producers saying, Hiddleston is too posh to play Bond.
Tom Hardy has showed his acting talent in one man film like Locke and Legends. Hardy’s appearance resembles exactly what Bond in the peak of his youth would look like. Recently he refused to comment about whether he would like to have the role of Bond fearing the comment would put him out of the play.
Idris Elba and Michael Fassbender are the most experienced actors on the list of the possible next Bond. In several online forums, 007 bookies have already started demanding Fassbender as the next lead. The kick-ass performance in Luther made Elba very relevant to the role. Both of them teased the fans about their age. Fassbender mentioned that he looks like 50 and is not suitable for the role. If the producers want to create a new chapter in Bond history, they can cast Elba as the first black Bond in history.
The front runner of this race so far seems to be Irish actor Aidan Turner. British daily The Sun already put him in the first position of their bet about the next Bond. Turner is now starring as Ross Poldark in BBC’s Poldark in which his topless performance has already given him a sex symbol status. Now it’s only a matter of time to see whether Turner will follow the footstep of his fellow countryman Pierce Brosnan.
James Norton’s brilliant performance in Happy Valley and Black Mirror also gives him an advantage in the race we simply can’t ignore. The recent Ben Hur star Jack Huston is also rumored to be in the producer’s mind as the next possible Bond.
The most surprising fact about this year’s Bond speculation is that there is a talk of a Jane Bond. That’s right. Although it is highly unlikely, people have been saying that now it’s time to have a girl to serve the Royal authority. The X-Files star Gillian Anderson has already stated her interest to play the feminine form of Bond.