Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been circling the Bond arena for a while now. He’s the Kick-Ass and Bullet Train superstar who seemed destined to slip into the 007 tux after Daniel Craig bowed out in No Time to Die. But here’s the twist: his shot at that iconic license to kill might be on shaky ground thanks to the not-so-stellar performance of his Kraven the Hunter outing.
Suddenly, the conversation shifts to a new front-runner—someone who just might be ready to slaughter the competition and take the spy world by storm. Enter Callum Turner, best known for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Green Room, and Assassin’s Creed. According to the betting site Coral, Turner’s odds have leaped from 4-1 to 2-1, putting him squarely in the “this-could-happen” category for the next James Bond. He’s got the look. He’s got the talent. And he’s got that perfect level of fame—recognizable but not too big—that longtime 007 producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson seem to crave.
Plus, Turner’s been dominating the headlines for his personal life, notably his engagement to Grammy winner Dua Lipa. All this buzz could be a major factor—sometimes that extra spark is exactly what the producers are looking for.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson Remains in the Lead
Despite Turner’s odds skyrocketing, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is technically still in the lead at 4-5. You’ve also got James Norton (7-2), Paul Mescal (6-1), Regé-Jean Page and Damson Idris (both 8-1), and Theo James (9-1) all in the fray. But before we see any of these folks officially walk onto the set in the iconic tux, we might be in for a long wait.
Why? Well, it appears Amazon and Barbara Broccoli are on very different pages about Bond’s future. Amazon scooped up MGM for a whopping $8.5 billion in March 2022, and they’ve allegedly been itching to turn the 007 brand into a full-blown mega-franchise—think spin-offs, streaming shows, the works—à la Marvel or Star Wars. Broccoli’s response? A hard pass. According to insiders, she’s branded Amazon “f***ing idiots” for wanting to flood the market with more Bond content, saying it would be “like a death knell” for the beloved spy series.
The gist? No matter how excited we might be about Callum Turner—or any other contender—Broccoli holds all the cards. She’s determined to guard the Bond legacy and make sure that 007 remains the time-honored top dog in action-spy cinema. So, as tantalizing as it is to picture Turner or Taylor-Johnson or Norton as the next guy in the tux, we may be in for a lull while the powers that be duke it out behind the scenes.
But keep your eyes peeled—once the dust settles, we just might see Turner’s name in lights as the new James Bond, ready to carve his own legend in the 007 hall of fame. After all, if there’s one thing we’ve learned from this ongoing saga, it’s that the Bond world is never short on drama…and that’s exactly why we love it.
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