The Latest James Bond 26 Casting Rumor Is Exciting (And We Hope It's True)

It's James Bond rumor control time. Here are the facts: This report comes from veteran gossip columnist Baz Bamigboye, who, to be fair, has a better batting average as a showbiz speculator than just about every one of his peers. He's plugged in, extremely charismatic, and rarely gets out over his skis. Hence, I think there's value in passing along what he claims to have gleaned about the creative direction of Denis Villeneuve's in-development James Bond movie for Amazon MGM Studios.

Let's address the most salient issue first: Who is going to be the new 007? According to Bamigboye, the casting process won't begin until Villeneuve has completed the intriguingly titled "Dune: Part III," but this doesn't mean we can't place certain big names out of contention. Apparently, all non-Brits are out of the running, so Glenn Powell, Timothée Chalamet, Jacob Elordi, and Austin Butler won't be wielding that Walther PPK. As for most of the popular Brit candidates, they're out, too. Given that new Bond producers David Heyman and Amy Pascal are looking for a young Bond in his late 20s or early 30s, you can forget about Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, or Michael Caine.

Bamigboye confidently states that 99.9% of every name that's been floated thus far is out of the running. Does this mean that, despite being 37 years old, one-time presumed frontrunner Aaron Taylor-Johnson still has a shot? "Whoever it is," said one of the gossip's sources, "has to look like he could kill you with his bare hands in a trice. From the moment you see him, that has to be readily apparent." Perhaps a de-aged Vinnie Jones would be the right call here.

Bamigboye's sense is that the new Bond creative team is going to go for an unknown, which, relatively speaking, could be akin to someone like Timothy Dalton, who very few American moviegoers barely recalled from Mike Hodges' "Flash Gordon" prior to his time as 007. Then again, they could just pluck some fresh face out of obscurity. In my opinion, if this franchise relaunch is to successfully differentiate itself from the EON films before it, then this is the way to go. For now, however, consider the James Bond casting derby wide open ... so long as you were born in England. Which brings us to the next question: What story is this new 007 adventure going to tell?

According to Bamigboye, screenwriter Steven Knight ("Peaky Blinders" and "Eastern Promises) will be drawing on early Bond books like "Casino Royale," "Live and Let Die," "Moonraker" (which bears very little resemblance to the movie), "Diamonds Are Forever," "Dr. No," and "Goldfinger." It's also possible that Knight is concocting an origin story that dramatizes Bond's attainment of double-0 status, which ... no. I understand the impulse to give younger audiences a primer on how Bond obtained his license to kill, but narratives that are practically all exposition, especially when the majority of the moviegoing public has known this character for multiple decades, simply don't work. The best Bond movie opening scene of all time is in "The Living Daylights," which starts as a training mission that goes awry. I'm not saying Villeneuve and his crew should steal that, but placing a young 007 in the middle of a mission that unexpectedly goes sideways is a great way to hook the audience.

What I don't want to see is Bond submitting to a job interview or assessment (unless it's like the one Ray Liotta subjects Seth Rogen to in "Observe and Report"). However this shakes out, patience is advised. Principal photography is not expected to commence until 2027, which means you can expect a 2028 release date. It's only three years, but it feels like all the time in the world.