Who should be the next James Bond?
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the latest tabloid favourite to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond after a rumoured successful screentest. Maybe that means he's got the job, or maybe it's complete fiction. The British tabs know they can reliably generate clicks with "next James Bond" articles in the interregnum between 007s, so they'll keep throwing new names out there to chum the waters.
What we know about the next James Bond is that he'll be a man and he'll be in his early-to-mid-30s, so he can sign up for at least a three movie, ten year obligation. Taylor-Johnson ticks those boxes. He's a safe, boring choice -- hunky, handsome, and a blank slate, with no strong defining role in his back catalogue. (The two most interesting things about him are that he's Jewish and he's married to an older woman, two very un-Bond things that could inform his choices in rewarding ways or have no impact whatsoever.)
Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson have quite conservative instincts as stewards of the franchise, so Taylor-Johnson makes sense, but like many Bond fans I want them to shake things up. The landscape is changing radically and Bond is one of the most appealing and versatile franchises that Amazon acquired in the MGM deal.
The Bond franchise could easily sustain spin-off shows and movies and a ramped-up production pace. (A new movie every two years used to be the Bond standard.) Stories focused on Moneypenny, Felix Leiter, or Pussy Galore. Young M adventures. A SPECTRE show? But also, lower budget period Bond movies more closely modelled on the original novels would be amazing. One-shot Bond movies, with an actor and director contracted to tell one unique and distinct story between longer-run Bond actors. All this rich potential is there, untapped.
My choice for the next Bond is Henry Golding. He's the right age, he looks the part, he's done action and it feels like he wants to do more, and he's not committed to a bigger franchise. He has a metric ton of charisma. The fact that he's Asian as well as British would not just be a welcome departure from 60 years of white Bonds, but also the franchise's history of colonialism and anti-Asian racism, including yellowface.
The other strong option would be Regé-Jean Page. I've long loved the idea of John Boyega as the next Bond, and at just 30 he's actually one of the few candidates who could be too young for the role. Page has overtaken him as the strongest candidate for a Black British Bond. He's 34, gorgeous, electric.
Then there's Henry Cavill.
If Skyfall had not been delayed by MGM's bankruptcy, or if No Time To Die had not been delayed by the pandemic, Daniel Craig's five-movie deal would have ended at least two years ago and Cavill would have been in poll position to take over -- he came second to Craig last time around and lost out because he's too young. Now he may be too old based on Eon's stated criteria. He looks younger than his age, but being Bond, like being president, can really age a person.
Cavill would be my pick for a one-shot Bond. Get Phoebe Waller-Bridge to write and direct. Give us a palate cleanser between Craig and Golding (or Craig and Page). A fun Bond movie that taps Cavill's charm and humour.
For a direct-to-streaming period Bond, I'd look at Thomas Doherty. At 27, he's too young, but he's got the sizzle and intensity to grow into the role and he even looks like a young Sean Connery.
Under Babs and Mikey G, we're probably not going to see those things. We'll get one Bond, three movies, ten years. If that's the case, Golding or Page would be the best choices. If it's Aaron Taylor-Johnson, well. Sure.
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