Who Can Inherit the Role of James Bond? Only One of 8 Contenders Deserves 007”

There’s Super­man Hen­ry Cav­ill, The Capture’s Cal­lum Turn­er, The White Lotus star Theo James, Babygirl’s Har­ris Dick­in­son, Slow Hors­es lead Jack Low­den, Spider-Man’s Tom Hol­land, Saltburn’s Jacob Elor­di, and Hap­py Valley’s James Nor­ton.

I have plen­ty of thoughts on everyone’s cre­den­tials to play 007, but for me, only one name tru­ly feels qual­i­fied to become the next Bond. Here’s a rank­ing of the con­tenders, from least to most like­ly to fill Daniel Craig’s icon­ic boots:

Tom Hol­land

I don’t know why Tom Hol­land is on this list. He is far too pop­u­lar already, his fan­base too young, and, in the loveli­est way pos­si­ble, just too well-rec­og­nized for being gen­tle and kind to ever be believ­able as an arro­gant, ser­i­al wom­an­iz­er like Bond. No offense to the oth­ers, but Tom Hol­land is just too pure to play 007.

Hen­ry Cav­ill

Is it pos­si­ble to be too suave, sexy, and sophis­ti­cat­ed for Bond? Appar­ent­ly so. Hen­ry Cav­ill may be too “Bond” to take the fran­chise in a new, unex­pect­ed direc­tion. He was crim­i­nal­ly under­rat­ed as Super­man in Man of Steel, a film that should have launched him into super­star­dom, and as Ger­alt in The Witch­er, he was sto­ic, brood­ing, and effort­less­ly wit­ty. He ticks every box — which might be the prob­lem. Cav­ill as Bond feels a lit­tle too pre­dictable.

Jacob Elor­di

Jacob Elor­di is, quite sim­ply, the moment — or at least he will be over the next 12 months. Since com­mand­ing atten­tion in Eupho­ria, he has cement­ed him­self as a spec­tac­u­lar tal­ent, now on a tra­jec­to­ry toward Oscar ter­ri­to­ry with roles in Emer­ald Fennell’s Wuther­ing Heights and Guiller­mo del Toro’s Franken­stein. Bond, or any fran­chise lead, may feel a bit beneath him at this point.

Jack Low­den

James Bond is essen­tial­ly every­thing Jack Lowden’s Slow Hors­es char­ac­ter, Riv­er Cartwright, isn’t: slick, cold, and effort­less­ly cool. Not to say Low­den couldn’t pull it off, but his strength lies in relata­bil­i­ty. He is the per­fect Riv­er — com­plex, ground­ed, qui­et­ly charis­mat­ic. His ver­sion of Bond would bring much-need­ed human­i­ty to the role, but I’m not sure it’s the Bond I want to see.

James Nor­ton

Since Daniel Craig left, James Nor­ton has been the most con­sis­tent­ly men­tioned name. He has charm, the unhinged sex appeal from play­ing a psy­chopath in Hap­py Val­ley, and impres­sive ver­sa­til­i­ty. But he has said he’d rather play the vil­lain, not 007, and has turned down roles that define a sin­gle char­ac­ter for life — even with the sev­en-fig­ure pay­check. Bond requires heart and ded­i­ca­tion, and Norton’s pas­sion seems bet­ter suit­ed else­where.

Cal­lum Turn­er

Of all the fron­trun­ners, Cal­lum Turn­er is the one I’d bet on. His fame is just right — not too big, not too obscure — and there’s still mys­tery around him, much like Bond him­self. Pre­vi­ous Bonds were rec­og­niz­able but not mas­sive stars. Turn­er fits the mold. He has unde­ni­able sex appeal, and I’ve nev­er seen him give a less-than-bril­liant per­for­mance. If Amazon’s Bond is a younger, for­ma­tive 007, Turn­er could be per­fect — though he’s still a bit too boy­ish for me to ful­ly buy it.

Har­ris Dick­in­son

The only oth­er con­tender with what it takes to car­ry the fran­chise into a new era is Har­ris Dick­in­son. Despite star­ring in big-name projects, he’s rel­a­tive­ly unknown — which is his­tor­i­cal­ly a plus for Bond. Ide­al­ly, a new Bond enters the role with audi­ences know­ing lit­tle about past work, allow­ing full immer­sion with­out the shad­ow of pre­de­ces­sors. In Baby­girl, Dick­in­son showed the sex­u­al grav­i­tas and mis­chie­vous charm need­ed for a pre­quel-era Bond — reck­less, seduc­tive, and grow­ing into the man we know.

Theo James

Theo James has steadi­ly proven him­self a unique tal­ent. Until The White Lotus, few real­ized he could be so fun­ny, mys­te­ri­ous, and cap­ti­vat­ing — qual­i­ties that could make for a mem­o­rable Bond.