The search for the next James Bond is reportedly down to its final auditions, and three names are attached to them. According to Deadline, which broke the story Thursday citing unnamed insiders, Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O’Connor are among the actors expected to screen test for 007 as early as Friday, with the tests running into next week.
Read that carefully: expected to test. Deadline says at least four test offers went out and names three of the four, while stressing the list is unconfirmed. Nobody has been cast. Amazon MGM Studios could not be reached for comment by Deadline and declined to comment to TheWrap, which matched the report.
Who’s in, who’s out
Lowden, the Slow Horses star, Turner (Masters of the Air, Fantastic Beasts) and O’Connor (Challengers, The Crown) have all circulated on Bond shortlists for months. The new wrinkle is who isn’t there: Jacob Elordi, a fixture of every fan-cast since the Craig era ended, “isn’t testing and is no longer in the mix,” per TheWrap. Deadline does not name the fourth actor reportedly holding a test offer.
Per Deadline, the tests were originally planned for earlier in October and slid to the end of the month because of the finalists’ schedules, so they could happen around the same time. Even with the tests wrapping next week, the outlet reports there is no fixed timeline for a decision, though most expect one by the end of the year. If that holds, the casting announcement that Hollywood has been pre-writing for five years would land sometime around the holidays.
How Bond 26 got here
This is the first 007 casting run entirely under Amazon MGM, which took full creative control of the franchise from longtime producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson in early 2025. The studio moved methodically: Amy Pascal and David Heyman came aboard as producers in March 2025, Denis Villeneuve was announced as director that June, and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight was confirmed as screenwriter in July 2025. Deadline reports the focus since then has been on getting the script into shape before auditioning anyone.
The actor search formally began in the spring, when Amazon MGM announced casting director Nina Gold had joined the project. A first round of auditions followed in August, and the studio, producers and Villeneuve cut the field to its final group and worked out test offers in September.
No release date has been announced for the film. Daniel Craig’s final outing, No Time to Die, opened in 2021. If Bond 26 lands in 2028, as has been widely reported but never confirmed, the gap between Bonds will be the longest in the franchise’s history, passing the six-year wait between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye.
Until Amazon MGM says a name out loud, treat every “new Bond” headline as what it is: a report about screen tests. The Nerd Wire will update when there’s an official announcement. In the meantime, Bond is also headed back to comics under Grant Morrison, which was announced at New York Comic Con this month.
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