Who might replace Daniel Craig as the next James Bond?

LONDON. — After 16 years, five films and one rather questionable pink tux, Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond sadly came to an end earlier this year.

While we are still not entirely sure what a Quantum of Solace is, we do know that Craig delivered some of the finest films in the franchise, and he is going to be a tough act to follow.

It is an extremely important casting decision. A huge amount of box office revenue depends on choosing the right actor for the role.

“A new Bond is not just a red-carpet suit and a timepiece endorsement arm,” says Mark O’Connell, author of Catching Bullets: Memoirs of a Bond Fan. “He must be a movie star, an ambassador for the series and cinema, a media diplomat, an anointed son of British culture and the face of a billion-dollar ecosystem of products and endorsements.

“He must be instantly recognisable across all corners of the globe as James Bond. He must be good looking, able to hold the camera and dominate cinema screens the size of football pitches.”

Of course, any new Bond actor would likely want to pay homage to those who have come before him, “but he will bring his own qualities to the role,” notes O’Connell. “He does not need to have been a leading man. Daniel Craig was not when he got the role in 2005. Yet, he was a leading man in waiting — something producer Barbara Broccoli had to instil in him over a year or so of conversation about taking on the Bond baton.”

So, who could it be?

There are several candidates whose names have been Bondied about in recent years.

“I believe we should be creating new characters for women — strong female characters. I am not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that.”

With that in mind, things do not get much more masculine than Tom Hardy, an actor used to being tough on screen — he played both Kray twins in Legend and has starred in Venom, Dunkirk and Mad Max: Fury Road.

With roles like that, it is easy to understand why Hardy has been considered the bookies’ favourite for some time.

However, at 44, there is now a risk he could have missed the boat. It’s worth remembering this is a role that Daniel Craig stayed in for 15 years. Hardy would be pushing 60 if he kept it for that long.

The issue of age is also considered a potential barrier for Idris Elba, 49, who was the favourite to take over the role for a solid decade, following his hugely popular performance as Stringer Bell in The Wire.

“Cars, ladies, martinis. Who wants to do that? It sounds terrible,” Elba joked in 2016. The actor has also acknowledged, however, that he might be “too old” to take it on.

O’Connell notes: “Connery and Lazenby were both barely 30 when they got the gig. As Craig and his injuries will testify, it is a hard slog playing Bond with all action cinema’s expectations. It is a younger agent’s game.”

So which younger agents might be in the frame? Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page, 33, certainly wouldn’t be a bad prediction – he looked as if he was auditioning for 007 every time he stepped on a red carpet this year. You can’t argue with anyone who rocks a tux as well as him, and former 007 Pierce Brosnan has said he’d make a “wonderful” Bond.

Page has kept a level head about the rumours though. “If you are a Brit, and you do something of any kind of renown that people regard well, then people start saying the ‘B’ word,” he told The Tonight Show earlier this year. “It is like a merit badge.

“I am very, very glad to have the badge,” he added. “I am glad to be in such wonderful company of people who have the badge. But it’s a badge.”

Game of Thrones star Richard Madden is another actor who could be in the running, largely thanks to his role in BBC drama Bodyguard which required him to wear a tuxedo, reverse a car out of gunfire and know his way around a weapon.

And it is only right and proper that producers consider some new Scottish talent, bearing in mind the first actor to play James Bond in the film series was of course the late Sean Connery.

But Madden, 35, has also played down the speculation. He told GQ in 2018 that he was “more than flattered to be mentioned” in relation to Bond, but added: “Everyone just loves the rumour mill on that topic. I’m just the current one. There will be a different one next week.” — BBC.