“Who’d you pick as the next Bond? That was the question posed by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos this week to his 6.8 million followers on X. It is Bezos who will now have the final say on the next 007. He asked for suggestions alongside a screenshot of the BBC News story about his company gaining creative control of the famous spy film franchise. The choice of Daniel Craig’s replacement will now be Amazon MGM Studios’ biggest decision. If the replies to Bezos’s call out are anything to go by, Henry Cavill is the (online) people’s choice. The former Superman actor, who has said he “would love to play Bond”, was widely regarded to have been the runner-up years ago when Craig landed the part for the first of his five 007 films, 2006’s Casino Royale. Longstanding Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, who announced on Thursday they were stepping down, have previously shot down the idea of a younger Bond. “Remember, Bond’s already a veteran,” Wilson said in 2022. “He’s had some experience. He’s a person who has been through the wars, so to speak. He’s probably been in the SAS or something.” Amazon may have different ideas – but at 41, Cavill could ironically be the perfect candidate. There is a growing female fandom, so we want more interesting female characters. Then there are the villains, who are the characters with their “pulse on the real world”. They represent the anxieties we have about the world. So it’d be interesting what Amazon does with that. Debating the next James Bond is “a national and international obsession”, BBC Radio 1 film critic Ali Plumb told BBC Breakfast. “I want to have an answer for you. I want to say names like Harris Dickinson or Leo Woodall and say, yes, it’s going to be them. But it’s all up in the air.” Chris Hewitt of Empire magazine and podcast told BBC Radio 5 Live that while he “admired what Craig has achieved”, he wants the new management “to rediscover the fun of Bond”. The next James Bond, born?
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