Author, television presenter, producer and podcaster Richard Osman, through industry conversations, has backed Jack Lowden to be the next James Bond.
Who does the public want to be the next James Bond, and who would actually be a great pick?
These are two very different things, and both questions were tackled recently by Marina Hyde and Osman on the popular podcast, The Rest is Entertainment.
Supposedly, Amazon is in its final round of casting, with casting legend Nina Gold leading the process.
A young Bond is supposedly desirable, perhaps in his early or mid-30s, with Callum Turner, 36, and Jacob Elordi, 29, two names that have been repeatedly floated.
Still, there are fringe picks from the worlds of the small screen, theatre and video games that could be cast as Bond instead.
Who does the public want as James Bond?
With help from Focal Data’s Chief Research Officer James Kanagasooriam, The Rest is Entertainment polled the UK and US public for who they would like to be the next James Bond.
House of the Dragon star James Norton came in third place.
Norton, 41, is one of the grandest small-screen actors produced in Britain over the last decade, with a standout villainous role in Happy Valley being particularly fascinating.
Second was Henry Cavill, 43 and in first place was Tom Hardy, 48.
This duo need no introduction, and their Bond credentials are quite clear.
However, like Norton, they do appear to be way out of Amazon’s age bracket, and Bond casting is rarely so obvious.
Remember, Daniel Craig wasn’t a well-loved choice, and went on to be an all-time Bond and a horrendously difficult act to follow.
What is needed is an actor of impressive talent who is of the moment and desired by the studio, producers (Amy Pascal and David Heyman), the director (Denis Villeneuve), and the casting director (Gold).
Jack Lowden as James Bond?
During The Rest is Entertainment discussion, Osman recalls from within the industry that, “the name I’m hearing is Jack Lowden.”
Lowden, 36, is best known for playing River Cartwright in the acclaimed spy series Slow Horses.
Lowden’s wife, Saoirse Ronan, publicly called for him to be Bond in 2024 on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Osman adds, “he’s such a brilliant actor; he can be funny and can definitely do action. I mean, I think he’d be sensational. It is definitively not a ‘he’s definitely got it’ thing. He’s definitely being strongly considered. I think he’d be amazing.”
Slow Horses is as good a Bond audition as anything, and its popularity on Apple TV gives Lowden an appropriate level of fame to step into the role of 007.
Moreover, the show has allowed Lowden to demonstrate the attributes Osman cited, which would make for a brilliantly down-to-earth Bond.
Anyone who watches Slow Horses will know this about Lowden.
And it’s worth pointing out that casting on Slow Horses was done by Gold.
What’s more, like Bond, Lowden is Scottish, which would hark back beautifully to the source material written by Ian Fleming, as well as Sean Connery, who brought Bond to the big screen in the 1960s.
He was almost nowhere in Focal Data’s polling, so perhaps Lowden is the perfect pick.
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