After Daniel Craig hung up his “James Bond” hat after “No Time to Die” in 2021, there’s been constant speculation over who the next James Bond will be. According The Hollywood Reporter, it’ll be Josh O’Connor.
Despite the fact that it’s been three years since the last Bond movie, it could still be a while until 007 returns to the big screen.
On Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter released its list of predictions for 2025, and on the list was the naming of the next actor that will play James Bond.
Earlier this year, there was speculation that the next James Bond would be Aaron Taylor-Johnson. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, Taylor-Johnson will not be the next Bond.
“Bond series producer Barbara Broccoli has always led from the gut, not caved to popular opinion. Lest we forget, the fair-haired Craig was considered a highly controversial choice when he was first announced in 2005,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, 2025 is set to be the year we find out who the next Bond will be, and it could be O’Connor.
Who is Josh O’Connor?
O’Connor is an English actor best known for his roles in “Challengers,” “The Crown” and “La Chimera.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the next Bond will be “an English actor poised on the cusp of superstardom — familiar to audiences but not too familiar, with a seductive smile, ease with a tossed-off one-liner and charisma to spare.”
The 34-year-old actor has been rising in prominence over the last few years and has a few projects that are set to be released in 2025.
O’Connor is set to be in the next “Knives Out” movie and he also stars in “The History of Sound.”
When will we get the next James Bond movie?
Though The Hollywood Reporter says the next Bond movie should be coming soon, The Wall Street Journal reports that it could still be a while.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon purchased the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio about three years ago, giving them the right to make and release Bond movies.
But recently, the relationship between Amazon and the family that oversees the Bond franchise has collapsed, destroying any hope of Bond returning to the screen in the near future.
The franchise’s future lies in the hands of Barbara Broccoli, who has decided the fate of Bond films for three decades.
“She has told friends she doesn’t trust algorithm-centric Amazon with a character she helped to mythologize through big-screen storytelling and gut instinct. This fall, she characterized the status of a new movie in dire terms — no script, no story and no new Bond,” per The Wall Street Journal.
This leaves the two sides at an impasse, Broccoli doesn’t want to work with Amazon for a new movie and the company needs Broccoli in order to go forward with a new movie, per The Wall Street Journal.
Because of the lack of relationship between Broccoli and Amazon, it is unclear when another Bond film will be made.
“Since she makes the creative calls that come first — script, casting, story — Broccoli can hold Bond hostage from Amazon for as long as she sees fit,” per The Wall Street Journal.
Ever since the first Bond film, “Dr. No,” was released in 1962, there’s typically been a Bond movie in theaters every year or two, but there’s now been more than three years since the last one was released, according to The Wall Street Journal.