James Bond will never be a younger actor, says casting director

We still don’t know who the next 007 is going to be, which means that speculation is as rife as ever.

Daniel Craig’s final James Bond movie, No Time to Die, hit cinemas in 2021, and from that point on, fans have been suggesting countless different actors who they think would be suitable to take up the gauntlet. For a long time, Idris Elba was the fan-favourite frontrunner, but he recently clarified that “I'm not going to be that guy”. Back to the drawing board, I guess?

Take a look at this mod of the classic N64 title GoldenEye 007 featuring characters and locations from Super Mario 64.

Of course, there’s still plenty of other actors who fans want to see - when it was announced that Henry Cavill won’t be reprising his role as Superman in the early stages of the DCU, many immediately kickstarted a campaign to hire him as the next Bond. Meanwhile, one former Bond actor, George Lazenby, suggested that Liam Hemsworth could be a good pick. Given how The Witcher fans responded to the news about Hemsworth taking on the role of Geralt in the Netflix show’s fourth season, I don’t know how that’d go down online.

While the James Bond producers have remained tight-lipped on the identity of the series’ next star, in a new interview with RadioTimes, casting director Debbie McWilliams has revealed the thought process behind hiring Craig in 2006’s Casino Royale.

“When we started, it was a slightly different feel,” McWilliams said. “We did look at a lot of younger actors, and I just don't think they had the gravitas, they didn't have the experience, they didn't have the mental capacity to take it on, because it's not just the part they're taking on, it's a massive responsibility. So we kind of scrubbed that idea and went back to the drawing board and started again.”

McWilliams also clarified that the series' next star doesn’t have to be someone who’s already incredibly famous, but just someone “who's best for the part”. With that in mind, it really could be anyone - hopefully, we’ll find out who it is sooner rather than later.