Pattinson and Hoult join race for the next James Bond
Seven Lights
Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult have entered the competition to play James Bond, according to accounts of casting activity published Friday and Saturday, as the search for the star of the 26th instalment widened beyond early favourites.
Both actors are reported to have completed screen tests at Bray Studios in Berkshire, where the franchise’s casting sessions have been held in recent weeks. Amazon MGM Studios declined to comment, and no official announcement has been made.
Pattinson holds one apparent advantage: he has already worked with the film’s incoming director, Denis Villeneuve, on “Dune: Part Three,” due December 18, and their collaboration is said to have gone well. He has had a busy year, appearing in “The Odyssey,” “The Drama” and “Primetime,” and is working on “The Batman Part II.” Hoult brings franchise experience as Beast in the X-Men films and Lex Luthor in “Superman,” with an acclaimed turn in “Nosferatu.” He was earlier a runner-up to Pattinson for the role of Batman.
The reports follow a fortnight of competing claims. Bond observers suggested last week that a contender named Turner had secured the part after he was spotted attending a screen test at Bray. A separate rumour held that O’Connor, fresh from the West End production of “Golden Boy,” had been cast, based on an account attributed to a colleague. None of the claims has been confirmed.
Villeneuve will direct from a script by Steven Knight, creator of “Peaky Blinders,” with Amy Pascal and David Heyman producing. Pascal has said the new Bond would be announced before the end of 2026. “We are being really, really methodical,” she said this year. “And it’s got to be something really different that is stirring, exciting and different.”
The franchise has not named an actor in the role since Daniel Craig, announced in October 2005, who played 007 in five films from “Casino Royale” in 2006 to “No Time to Die” in 2021. Amazon MGM has made the casting of the next Bond its most closely guarded production decision since acquiring the franchise’s distribution control, with shortlists, tests and denials circulating for months. An announcement is expected before year’s end.