Gary Oldman has thrown his weight behind a surprise pick for the next James Bond.
The ‘Slow Horses’ star, 67, told Canada’s Global in a recent interview that producers have already settled on their choice to replace Daniel Craig, even if the public does not know it yet. Oldman, who plays Jackson Lamb in the Apple TV+ spy series, used the platform to champion his co-star Jack Lowden for the coveted 007 role.
“It’s been rumored that he’s on the shortlist,” Oldman said of Lowden. “We’re going to find out pretty soon, aren’t we? Because they have picked him. They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack.”
Oldman’s comments arrive amid months of fevered speculation about who will inherit the Walther PPK. Names circulating in industry chatter have included Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner, Harris Dickinson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, though no official shortlist has ever been confirmed by Eon Productions or Amazon MGM Studios.
The veteran actor’s endorsement of Lowden, 34, carries extra weight given their established on-screen chemistry. The Scottish actor plays River Cartwright in ‘Slow Horses,’ the ambitious MI5 agent constantly underestimated by Oldman’s slovenly but brilliant boss. Whether that dynamic translates to Bond’s world remains to be seen, but Oldman clearly sees leading-man potential in his younger colleague.
Not everyone with Bond credentials shares Oldman’s enthusiasm for the known quantities in circulation. Debbie McWilliams, who cast three previous 007 films, recently threw cold water on the entire field of rumored frontrunners.
“I don’t want to see any of them as James Bond,” she said, delivering a blunt assessment that undercut the months of handicapping. McWilliams, whose credits include casting Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig, argued that the role demands someone who arrives without audience baggage.
“We want to know as little about them personally as possible, because that’s what spies are,” she explained. “We don’t need to know where he goes shopping or who his parents are, or where he lives. We never want to see him at home. And a vital element of the whole thing is his job description. He’s licensed to kill, and we have to believe that he can do that. If you don’t, then you’ve lost the audience.”
McWilliams made clear she wants “somebody who is completely out of the blue,” adding that what is “absolutely essential” is that Bond remains “a total enigma.”
Another voice from the Craig era has now entered the conversation with a more measured perspective. Rory Kinnear, who played MI6 chief of staff Bill Tanner across four Bond films from ‘Quantum of Solace’ through ‘No Time to Die,’ addressed the franchise’s future in an interview.
“That’s the exciting thing – I’m sure they’ll want to hold on to some continuity, what it means to people,” Kinnear said. “But there’ll be a whole different approach.”
The 46-year-old actor, the fourth performer to take on Tanner in a high-profile Bond production, indicated he would return to the role if asked. His comments suggest the producers face a balancing act between honoring Craig’s fifteen-year tenure and establishing a fresh identity for the post-Amazon era.
Kinnear also offered a historical observation that complicates the current guessing game. Casting directors on projects of this magnitude, he noted, “tend” to cast unknowns rather than established stars. That pattern would favor McWilliams’s preference over Oldman’s specific advocacy, though the ‘Slow Horses’ star’s claim that a choice has already been locked in suggests the decision may already be made.
The franchise remains in a transitional moment following Amazon’s $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, with creative control still held by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions. The next film, unofficially dubbed ‘Bond 26,’ has no confirmed release date or director attached.