James Bond: a new favourite has emerged to play 007

Recently, there've been rumblings that Henry Cavill is in contention following the loss of both Superman and Geralt of Rivia off his roster. This would also align with the producers' aims for the reinvented character, that the person playing him should be a "veteran" rather than "some kid out of high school." This latest bit of goss though paints a different picture. According to an industry insider, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is in the running to play James Bond in the next film in the spy series, as his latest meeting with the producer went very well.

Taylor-Johnson's career took off after Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and since then, he has cut his teeth on action flicks like Nowhere Boy, Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tenet, and Bullet Train. Matthew Belloni, formerly the editor of The Hollywood Reporter who now works for Puck, counted the rumour that the actor would be stepping into the shoes of Bond as a "semi-surefire prediction" for the coming year.

"He sat with producer Barbara Broccoli, and the meeting went well, per sources. But while Taylor-Johnson fits the bill - great actor, British, fits the younger direction the Broccolis want to go, accomplished but not particularly famous - he’s about to be a much bigger star," explained Belloni. "If Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff Kraven the Hunter or Universal’s Ryan Gosling two-hander The Fall Guy works, Taylor-Johnson might end up, ironically, too famous to take on Bond."