Next James Bond: Final Screen Tests Begin for 4 Actors

Five years of rumours, betting odds and "sources say" — and the empty tuxedo is finally down to a fitting. According to Deadline, Amazon MGM has set the final screen tests for the next James Bond, with auditions that could begin as early as today, Friday 23 October, and run through next week. At least four test offers have gone out, and insiders have named three of the actors: Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O'Connor. The fourth man is still a mystery. One important note before the fan casting takes over: these names are reported, not confirmed — Amazon MGM had no comment for either trade that published them.

The three named men make a fascinating shortlist, not least because all three are 36. Lowden is the spy-in-waiting: as River Cartwright in Slow Horses he has basically been auditioning for 007 in public for years, all rumpled tradecraft and barely controlled chaos. Turner brings the classic silhouette — Fantastic Beasts and Masters of the Air proved he can carry period-hero weight without breaking a sweat. O'Connor is the curveball. The Challengers and The Crown star has never been part of the Bond rumour mill at all, and he just shared the screen with the outgoing Bond himself, Daniel Craig, in Wake Up Dead Man.

The names that are not testing

Half the story is who is missing. The Hollywood Reporter says Jacob Elordi — the internet's loudest fan pick — will not test for the part, and neither will Sinners star Jack O'Connell. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, once treated by the tabloids as a done deal, is nowhere in the final frame either. It is also worth knowing the two trades do not fully agree: THR names only Lowden and Turner, and does not list O'Connor among the finalists it heard about. That gap is exactly why the word "reported" is doing heavy lifting in every paragraph of this story.

Context matters here. This process did not start last week. Casting director Nina Gold joined the search in the spring, the first round of auditions happened in August, and the tests were originally planned for earlier in October before scheduling conflicts pushed them to the end of the month so every finalist could test in the same window. The sessions reportedly cover stunts, camera presence and dialogue — the full 007 job interview, not a photo shoot.

What happens next

The team waiting on the other side of these tests is not small. Denis Villeneuve directs — Bond will be his next film after Dune: Part Three — from a script by Steven Knight, with Amy Pascal and David Heyman producing. Deadline reports there is no set timetable for a decision, although the expectation across the trades is an announcement before the end of the year; Pascal has called a casting announcement by the end of 2026 "a good bet."

My take: Lowden is the smart money, and has been for a while — he is the only name on this list who already plays a spy like he was born to be disappointed by the job. This is speculation, clearly labelled: the unnamed fourth actor is the one I would watch. Studios do not keep a seat empty at a final this small unless somebody in that room is fighting for a surprise. The honest answer: after five years of noise, we will know the seventh Bond within weeks — and for once, that is not a rumour. That is a schedule.

Related: James Gunn just killed the Wonder Woman casting rumor — another casting story that collapsed the moment somebody official actually spoke. Also see Keanu Reeves James Wan Team-Up: Korean Thriller Remake — a team-up that is real, exciting, and still only "in talks".