No time to spy: Lining up Craig’s replacements

THE announcement of which actor will play James Bond next is still some way off but that hasn’t stopped the speculation about who it will be. Daniel Craig leaves big shoes to fill after his fifth and final turn as the British special agent in No Time to Die.

Whether the lucky actor will be well known or a surprise pick, as Craig was, remains to be seen. Age is another factor, given that actors spend a decade playing 007.

As movie fans wait for news, it is interesting to cast our minds back to a time when the film series was in the doldrums – before Pierce Brosnan came along it had been failing, propelled downwards by Timothy Dalton’s Licence to Kill (1989), the least successful of all the 007 films.

After a six-year break, Brosnan, an Irish actor with a sense of caddish fun, would make the role his own in GoldenEye (1995). He brought charm, a sense of style and a knowing wink to the four Bond films in which he starred, and without the silliness of the Roger Moore oeuvre that saw 007 ward off evil spirits and venture into outer space.

Sam Heughan

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Though Moore played the character seven times, he could never take it as seriously as the great Sean Connery, a former gymnast, had done in his seven outings as Bond.

“Sean, physically, is a much tougher individual than I am,” Moore once said. “It’s easier to accept him as a killer than me.”

When Craig first played Bond in Casino Royale (2006) the series was aiming for a reboot with a younger, sexier, more athletic character in an age when the action driven Jack Bauer in 24 (2001) and Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity (2002) were threatening the Bond mantle.

Now as Craig, 52, the most successful actor in the role since Sean Connery, retires after numerous injuries and increasingly large pay cheques that kept him interested, we can only guess who Barbara Broccoli and her half- brother Michael G Wilson will choose as his successor.

Initially 007 fans were peeved that the Craig incarnation steered too far from the character in Ian Fleming’s books and that Craig had been reluctant to portray him in the traditional cheesy manner. In fact, there had to be some kind of internal life for him to take on Bond.

“He’s an old-fashioned character, but a modern spy,” Craig said at one time.

Henry Golding

“I think we are a little more cynical about the world now. Ian Fleming wrote about an ideal amateur: a British gentleman, who drove a Bentley, played cricket for England, spied for MI6 and sailed all around the world.

“Those people don’t exist anymore. It would be lovely to think that they do, but they don’t.”

So, will the character stay in the action mould or return even just a little to that old-fashioned spy? The actor who will play him may well determine that.

Two of the prime contenders are the charming James Norton and an outgoing Scot, Sam Heughan, who are at either end of the spectrum. Thankfully, both like talking to the media and fans, which would come as a welcome relief after the media-shy Craig.

Norton, 35, famous for his television roles in the quintessentially British series War & Peace, Happy Valley and Grantchester, as well as for playing the British-raised son of Russian mafia exiles in the international-crime-themed, McMafia, said he was keen to explore “the inner conflict” of his characters, not unlike Craig.

“Daniel Craig has been incredible in opening up the character,” Norton said.

Tom Hiddleston

“Suddenly we had a human being and I was intrigued by his performance – less than by burning everything up and running down corridors.

“It’s bizarre and very flattering to be a part of the conversation,” he added.

“But, beyond that I know less than anyone else about it. There’s an immense amount of speculation in the press, especially the UK where they love to run any kind of thing.”

And which is Norton’s favourite 007 film? “Skyfall with Sam Mendes at the helm; he also directed Spectre. With this films they expanded and elevated the brand.”

The hunkiest of the pack is Heughan, 40, who comes with a strong, ready-made fan base, thanks to his Highlander role as Jamie Fraser in Outlander, a historical series that has gathered considerable steam in its fifth season.

The fans are predominantly women, though the actor has broadened his appeal by appearing as Vin Diesel’s adversary in the actioner Bloodshot and even played a spy in the 2018 comedy spoof The Spy Who Dumped Me.

Idris Elba

Way ahead in a Radio Times poll. The natural blonde is a fitness fanatic, has his own whisky label and loves posting on Instagram. Promotion is a huge deal in the Bond universe. In many ways, he is ready-made for the job, especially given that in Fleming’s books, the character’s father was a Scottish Highlander.

Heughan, who auditioned for Casino Royale, was once asked if he would consider the role once more.

“I think any actor who says they wouldn’t would be lying, and I think it’s time we have a Scottish Bond again,” he replied.

Two other contenders are better known – Tom Hiddleston (Thor) and Richard Madden (Game of Thrones), who both come from franchises more suited to Bond’s principal audience of young men. Hiddleston, 39, whose visibility has diminished of late, had been a favourite a while ago, though Broccoli has reportedly said he is “too smug” and “not tough enough”.

The dapper Madden, 34, remains a strong contender after the huge success of Bodyguard, and even has a Marvel movie, The Eternals, in the can. He is also set to appear as a spy in the Amazon miniseries Citadel, co-starring Priyanka Chopra and helmed by Marvel directors the Russo brothers.

Madden told Variety: “I’ve played a lot of these good guys that bad things happen to, and Bodyguard was my first real experience of this moral space that isn’t so clean-cut as good guys and bad guys. I want to delve into that.”

Even so, he’s doing fine without Bond, and that seems also to be the sentiment of Idris Elba, 47, who probably is already too old for the task of shaping the next wave of 007 movies. The Luther star has also said he doesn’t want to “carry the mantle of being the first black Bond” and wouldn’t want to take on a role that would define him.

“You’re that character, and known as that character for many, many years,” he told Event magazine. “I’m creating characters now that can still live alongside Idris.”

It seems unlikely the producers will play the diversity card. Broccoli has said the new 007 will not be a woman, and while the Malaysian-born Henry Golding, 33, may be suave and British, he is way down the list of contenders.

Tom Hardy, 42, has been popular with some pundits, though the famously mumbling actor is probably more suited to grittier characters like Mad Max.

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Henry Cavill, 37, may be good as Superman but is probably too stiff to play a suave spy, and arguably made a mess of it by lacking subtlety in The Man from UNCLE. For now, Bond-fans just have to wait for the much-delayed No Time to Die to come to cinemas in November. Sometime afterwards Broccoli and Wilson will decide the future direction of the franchise. With audiences starved of blockbusters, Craig’s last outing is bound to be a huge hit. The actor who plays his successor had better be up for a challenge.

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