Screen tests begin in earnest as Amazon seeks a new 007
Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O'Connor are understood to be among the final contenders as the search for Daniel Craig's successor enters its last stage
Callum Turner, Jack Lowden and Josh O'Connor are among the actors thought to be taking part in final auditions to play James Bond, according to reports. Screen tests are said to be taking place this weekend, possibly as early as Friday, with between three and five actors understood to have reached the last stages of the process.
The finalists are said to be auditioning in three areas: stunts, camera presence and dialogue. Deadline reported that the screen tests had been due in early October but were delayed by scheduling conflicts, while Variety said Turner and Lowden "appear to be in the mix" to replace Daniel Craig.
British actors Aaron Taylor-Johnson and James Norton were previously connected to the role, while the Irish actor Paul Mescal's name had also been thrown into the mix. Other actors now appear to be in the frame, but reports on the current casting situation vary. Variety suggested that Lowden, star of Slow Horses, may now be edging ahead, while Turner, who appeared in Masters of the Air, was speculated about earlier this year, with some fans suggesting his wife, Dua Lipa, could sing the Bond theme.
Sources told Deadline that at least four final screen test offers had been made and that, while unconfirmed, "three of the four expected to test are Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O'Connor". O'Connor is best known for playing Prince Charles in The Crown and for starring in 2025's Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, alongside Craig. Jack O'Connell had been thought to be in the mix, but sources said this may no longer be the case, while the Euphoria and Wuthering Heights star Jacob Elordi is not thought to be testing. Other performers previously linked with the role include The King's Man star Harris Dickinson and Jack Barton of SAS: Rogue Heroes.
Deadline said: "Even with the tests wrapping next week, there is no timeline for when a final decision will be made." Amazon MGM Studios, which now controls the Bond franchise, announced in May that the casting process was under way but had no further comment at the time. In August, Amy Pascal, one of the next film's producers, told Deadline that "end of the year is a good bet" for possible news on who would play Bond. "We are being really, really methodical. Having worked with Barbara Broccoli at the studio, I mean, Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow," she said. "And it's got to be something really different that is a stirring and exciting and different."
The BBC's Lizo Mzimba reported in September that "for a series where the stakes are so high, no expense is spared in ensuring that the film team know exactly how each auditionee will come across on screen". He added: "As the 007 team themselves have explained in the past: 'Bond screen tests are elaborate affairs involving hair and make-up, costumes, sets, and other actors.'"
Only six actors have ever played Ian Fleming's British Secret Service agent 007 in the official film series: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. The last announcement of a new Bond came in 2005 with Craig, who last starred in the role in 2021's No Time to Die, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. During the equivalent stage two decades ago, the Superman actor Henry Cavill was widely thought to have been in the running. "They told me I was close," Cavill said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2022. "They told me it was ultimately down to, and this is what I've been told, it was just down to me and Daniel, and I was the younger option." He added that he probably had not been ready at the time and that Craig had done an incredible job.
The forthcoming film, reportedly due in 2028, will be directed by Dune's Denis Villeneuve, with the Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight writing the script. Knight told Zoe Ball on Greatest Hits Radio in September that the first draft had been completed. Amazon bought MGM for $8.5bn (£6.3bn) in 2021, which included the rights to distribute James Bond, and is reported to have paid at least $20m (£14.9m) more for the rights to control Bond's future creatively. Pascal and David Heyman are producing the film, while Tanya Lapointe is executive producer. Knight said he was enjoying the work immensely. "I'm absolutely loving doing it. It's an honour to be asked. And believe it's going to be so good. I really do believe it's going to be amazing."