Who will be the next James Bond? The actors leading the race to replace Daniel Craig

Dubai: Nearly five years after No Time to Die, there is still no James Bond. What there is, finally, is a process that appears to be reaching its end.

Amy Pascal, producing the film for Amazon MGM, told Deadline that an announcement before the end of 2026 is a good bet. Another round of auditions is expected this month, with Denis Villeneuve reportedly contacting actors directly.

No one has been cast. Everything below that line is either confirmed by the studio or, in the case of the names, informed guesswork with money riding on it.

What they say they are looking for

Pascal has been fairly direct about the brief.

"Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow," she told Deadline. "And it's got to be something really different that is stirring and exciting and different."

Reporting suggests the search is focused on a relatively unknown British or Irish actor, possibly in his late twenties or early thirties. The film will be a full reboot, unconnected to Craig's continuity, which means no explanation of where No Time to Die left things.

That brief, if accurate, rules out most of the names people have been shouting for five years.

The names in the frame

Variety framed the search as British and under 30, floating Tom Holland, Jacob Elordi and Harris Dickinson. The Hollywood Reporter and Men's Journal named Callum Turner as frontrunner. Turner is 36. A former Bond casting director then publicly doubted both Turner and Elordi.

When trades disagree this openly, nobody knows.

The bookmakers, meanwhile, have settled on a running order. These are the current top five tracked across several firms:

Callum Turner: clear favourite at around 40 per cent implied probability. Masters of the Air, Fantastic Beasts, recently in Eternity. His odds firmed after his marriage to Dua Lipa put him back in the news.

Tom Francis: second, and the interesting one. The Olivier-winning Sunset Boulevard star is reported to have actually auditioned, which is more than can be said for most of this list.

Louis Partridge: third. Known for the Enola Holmes films, and would be the youngest Bond ever cast.

Harris Dickinson: fourth, and one of the few names appearing in both the trade reporting and the betting.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson: fifth. Spent years as the runaway favourite before Amazon took over, and has been drifting ever since.

Jack Lowden, Jacob Elordi, Arty Froushan, Dónal Finn and Leo Suter fill out the top ten.

Why it has taken this long

In February 2025, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who had run the franchise for decades, reached an agreement with Amazon MGM over creative control. The studio formally took the reins that March, ending the Broccoli family's stewardship of 007.

Amazon then did something unusual. Rather than casting first and building around the actor, Pascal and David Heyman insisted on a screenplay and a director before anyone put on a dinner jacket.

Villeneuve was announced in June 2025, beating Edgar Wright and Jonathan Nolan to it, on a single-film deal. Steven Knight, of Peaky Blinders, was confirmed as writer a month later. Villeneuve then said he would not cast Bond until he finished Dune: Part Three, which arrives in December.

The official talent search was confirmed as underway in May this year. Nina Gold, one of Britain's most respected casting directors, has been meeting emerging and lesser-known actors.

Why you should not trust any of that

One useful piece of history. When Daniel Craig was cast, he was not among the bookmakers' leading favourites either.

Betting odds track publicity, not information. Turner's odds moved because of a wedding. Taylor-Johnson led for years on the strength of a single unconfirmed report. The market rewards names people recognise, and the studio has said it is looking for one they do not.

If the brief is genuinely an unknown in his late twenties, the eventual answer is probably not on any list currently in circulation.

The theme song race, for what it is worth

British bookmakers have Olivia Dean and RAYE tied as favourites to record it.

RAYE was asked about it on a red carpet in March and handled it about as well as anyone could. "There is no rumour," she said. "Obviously, if they ever want to approach me about that, my inbox is open."

The bit that might matter here

Villeneuve has an unusually strong relationship with this part of the world.

All three Dune films shot their desert exteriors in Abu Dhabi's Liwa Desert, and Part Three arrives in December having been made largely on UAE sand. He knows the crews, the locations and the film commission.

Bond has never shot in the Emirates, though the region has hosted Mission: Impossible, Fast and Furious and plenty else. Nothing has been announced and nobody has suggested it. But of every director Amazon could have hired, they picked the one with three films' worth of experience working here.

Filming is expected to start in 2027, which gives location scouts a while yet. Here's to hoping the UAE lands on their list.