Denis Villeneuve Just Made Those Bond Casting Rumors More Interesting

Daniel Craig was the last actor to play James Bond onscreen, and I think it’s fair to say that he did a bang-up job. Although all his movies about the famed 00 weren’t stellar, it’s not as if the franchise has the most sterling record. What matters is that Craig made an impact as Bond, despite being relatively unknown when cast in the role.

It wasn’t the first time an unknown actor was cast to play the MI6 agent, but it’s as good an example as any that choosing someone audiences are unfamiliar with allows the movie to be about the character. There wasn’t any baggage that the actor brought along. There was no public persona he had to adhere to. If anything, that stuff came around later.

All of this makes me genuinely confused as to why folks want such a big name to play the new James Bond. After Amazon took full control of the rights to make a new Bond film, Jeff Bezos took to X to ask people who they thought should play the spy. Henry Cavill won out because his fans are very … devoted, but it did not lead to any concrete casting news, and thank Zod for that.

I don’t have anything against Cavill, or any of the other names that have been floated for the role, like Aaron Taylor-Johnson or Tom Holland (though I’d prefer either of those two over the former). I’ve just soured on the idea of being familiar with the actor who will take over the part. Give us someone fresh and new, Denis. Let us get to know James Bond and not someone whose career we’re already — Hold on… My wrist—-ch, which doubles as a lock pick and a martini glass, is sending me a Deadline link.

It sounds like Denis heard my requests (or came to this decision all on his own, who’s to say?). A new report from Deadline suggests that Villeneuve will seek to cast an unknown as James Bond. Allegedly, the director is seeking someone in their late 20s to early 30s, and wants them to be British.

The report specifically cites that the filmmaker wants someone close to creator Ian Fleming’s description, calling Bond “a blunt instrument” and an “extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened,” which is ironic, because that’s how I would describe Henry Cavill. Villeneuve intends to get started on the film after finishing Dune 3, so we may still be a ways off from more details, but this update is (ideally) promising.