Next year marks the 65th anniversary of Dr. No, the film debut of English superspy James Bond.
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year → mark → Bond
In fact, whenever the next Bond movie bursts into theaters — most likely 2028, if production under director Denis Villeneuve gets started next year — it seems almost certain to break a dubious record: The longest gap ever between Bond movies.
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it → burst → movies
Currently, it’s still the six and a half years between License to Kill (the end of Timothy Dalton’s brief two-movie run in 1989) and Goldeneye (the beginning of the Pierce Brosnan era in 1995), though that was almost surpassed by a near-six-year gap within the Daniel Craig era, from Spectre in 2015 to No Time to Die in 2021.
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that → ’ → 2021
(To be fair, the latter was supposed to be more like four and a half years until a global pandemic interfered.)
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pandemic → suppose → ?
The gap between Dalton and Brosnan made sense; the series had dwindled in popularity during the latter half of the 1980s, and Dalton’s grittier take (ironically anticipating Craig’s version of the character) didn’t really take hold with audiences.
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take → make → audiences
The series needed some time to figure out what it wanted to be, even if their Brosnan-era answer was half typical trend-chasing, half winking throwback.
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answer → need → what
But the fact that it’s already been five years since No Time to Die, the last film of Craig’s extremely successful run, is pretty shocking, especially given that Amazon now owns rights to the character outright, presumably in hopes of making it one of their signature pieces of IP.
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it → die → IP
Villeneuve has been attached for a while now, and though some of the delay presumably has to do with his commitment to a third Dune movie, there’s also a sense that both casting and conceptualizing the next Bond has been a challenge.
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casting → attach → Bond
That challenge may soon reach its final boss, as trades are reporting that final screen tests for James Bond will be commencing soon.
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tests → reach → Bond
Obviously, no names have been officially confirmed, but there are rumors and sources pointing to a small group of actors.
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names → confirm → actors
It seems likely that one of them will be your next Bond.
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one → seem → them
As for the long-rumored Jacob Elordi, he appears to be out of the running, possibly because it would be unbecoming for Bond to keep hitting his head on various doorframes.
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Bond → rumor → doorframes
But there’s still plenty of nitpicking to do, so here’s rundown of four possible candidates.
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rundown → ’ → candidates
Whether Bond is one of these guys or someone else entirely, one thing is assured: Everyone will insist they are the Wrong Choice until they see them in the role and say that actually they’re pretty good.
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they → assure → role
Age and Nationality: 36, English
Where You’ve Seen Him: Faking a New York-ish accent in the high-concept rom-com One Night Only, the high-concept rom-com-dram Eternity, and the tedious George Clooney-directed senior-bait movie The Boys in the Boat.
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You → see → Boat
The Case For: Mainly that he’s married to Dua Lipa and would therefore have the inside track on a good theme song.
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he → marry → song
Also, in One Night Only, he proved his ability to stand next to a beautiful actress in a Bond Girl-style dress without forgetting his lines (as far as we know).
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we → prove → lines
Turner has a low-key charm — he’s likable in One Night Only — and he’s certainly got the looks, but isn’t he a little too familiar at this point?
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he → have → point
It’s not that he’s an international superstar, but the man has starred in multiple high-profile releases and there’s just something weird about the idea of a James Bond who pretended to be a New York pizza-maker in an American rom-com.
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who → ’ → com
Also, he’s already 36, which means he’d be pushing 40 by the time his reboot came out, just as Craig was (which was ultimately fine but did mean that the majority of his movies were about an older, more reluctant Bond).
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majority → ’ → Bond
Age: 36, Scottish
Where You’ve Seen Him: Dunkirk, maybe, if you could make him out in a crowd of 200 UK actors; Slow Horses, where he’s the non-Gary-Oldman lead; perhaps a play, if you’re a regular theatergoer in England.
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you → see → England
Though he’s the same age as Turner, his movie career hasn’t been as distractingly full; a TV and stage actor is probably the best chance for an experienced actor to nonetheless come into the role with a clean slate for many audiences.
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actor → ’ → audiences
Look, I’m a fan of Ella McCay, but it would be weird if the tool husband from Ella McCay became Bond, wouldn’t it?
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it → look → McCay
(He also played the heir to a pizza chain in this.
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He → play → this
Why is Amazon searching so many fictional pizzerias?!)
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Amazon → search → pizzerias
Age and Nationality: 36 (yes, him too), English
Where You’ve Seen Him: As a conflicted tennis player in Challengers; as a conflicted reverend in Wake Up Dead Man; as a bumbling art thief in The Mastermind; as a man determined to expose alien visitations in Disclosure Day.
The Case For:
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You → see → Day
He’s the most purely interesting and charismatic actor on this list, and he seems to have great taste (frankly, to the point of wondering whether I believe he’d even go out for this part).
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he → ’ → part
Though he played an ex-bruiser of a holy man in Wake Up Dead Man, there’s a certain soft-spoken gentility to O’Connor’s highest-profile roles so far that make him difficult to picture as the colder, deadlier Bond.
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him → play → Bond
Also, like Turner but maybe even more so, he’s been the lead in a lot of high-profile movies, moreso than Craig or Brosnan were when they got the call.
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they → get → call
Age and Nationality: 31, English
Where You’ve Seen Him: As David Nelson on later seasons of Heartstopper; a small role in Poor Things; maybe in series two of SAS: Rogue Heroes, if you’re a BBC aficionado.
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you → see → SAS
Oh, and for some reason a major part of the internet is convinced he’s the favorite to get the part.
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he → convince → part
(But as the recent Fourth Wing casting proved, sometimes the gossip is correct!)
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gossip → prove → ?
He’s the closest thing in this potential race to an unknown, and while that wasn’t true for pretty much any of the past Bonds, they certainly weren’t starring in Spielberg films, either.
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they → ’ → films
Plus, he’s the only one who’s not 36!
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who → ’ → ?
Moreover, does he come across as too much of a TV actor?
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he → come → actor
He feels like who they might cast if Bond was being turned into a Reacher-style Prime Video series.
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Bond → feel → series
Obviously the screen tests (which are said to include stunts, dialogue, and “camera presence”) are the deciding factor, but my gut says Barton (or whoever else the fourth “unknown” candidate actually is!) will have the edge with fewer preconceptions about his whole deal.
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candidate → say → deal
Amazon will want someone early enough in their career to not have too many opinions about this stuff; 36-year-old veterans of stage and screen might not fit that bill.
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veterans → want → bill
Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn.
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Hassenger → live → Brooklyn
He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others.
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He → ’ → others
The Aporia
