Every few weeks comes a report claiming someone has emerged as a frontrunner, or is in serious contention to take over the James Bond role from actor Daniel Craig who exited the franchise with “No Time to Die” in 2021.
The franchise’s producer Barbara Broccoli previously indicated casting wouldn’t begin until a script is closer to being ready – and that’s not expected to be until nearer year’s end at the earliest.
That hasn’t stopped or even slowed down the speculation, something that has led to long-time franchise casting director Debbie McWilliams shooting down all that speculation thus far in a new Radio Times interview.
Having been on board the franchise since 1981’s “For Your Eyes Only,” McWilliams knows her 007 and says she deliberately avoids discussion surrounding EON’s choice for the next Bond. Still, she can’t help hearing about some of it:
I don’t listen to any of it. It makes me die laughing, actually, most of the time. When I hear about who the bookies’ favourites are, and who’s number 15 and all this kind of thing… I mean, it’s just hilarious – and the fact that people are remotely interested is even funnier, I think.
It’s a curious phenomenon, is all I can say! It’s become a bigger deal through modern press and social media and all that business, and the fact that there now seems to be these kinds of fanbases that I didn’t even know existed, really – but that seems to generate a lot more [discussion].
And also, I have a theory, which I’ve trotted out many times, is that when there’s a gap in a newspaper, they fill it with a James Bond story because they haven’t got anything else to write about. Why people can’t just wait and see, I don’t know.
With that being the case, she offers an update regarding how the 007 casting is going right now. It seems Broccoli is busy enough with other projects she has yet to have the conversation with McWilliams:
There’s no conversation being had at the moment. [Series producer] Barbara Broccoli has been heavily involved in other projects. You know, it’s not unusual for there to be quite a big gap between different Bonds, it has been known to have a five-year gap. So, no, nothing.
It has previously been indicated the earliest a new Bond film could go into production would be mid-2024, with a more likely scenario being a shoot in 2025.
