‘He is gen Z A-list’: Queenslander firms as a Bond frontrunner
An Aussie actor has firmed up as a favourite among Hollywood stars to take the lead in the iconic franchise.
Source: @restisentertainment / Instagram
Australian actor Jacob Elordi has firmed up as a favourite among Hollywood stars being touted as the possible next James Bond after Amazon MGM Studios announced last week that its search has officially begun.
The 28-year-old emerged several months ago as a top contender to replace Daniel Craig, and has more time in his schedule now that his long-running role on TV drama Euphoria has ended.
Elordi – who starred as Heathcliff in the recent Wuthering Heights film and was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Guillermo del Toro’s 2025 horror Frankenstein – has played football player Nate Jacobs in the American teen drama since its first series.
In the final episode of Euphoria, the controversial character (whose wife is played by Sydney Sweeney) comes to a gruesome end involving a coffin, a pipe and a rattlesnake.
“It’s a bittersweet thing,” Elordi said this week. “This show is a massive part of not just my career, but my life.”
Coincidentally, details of his death on Euphoria were revealed just after Amazon MGM Studios released a statement responding to reports that it had begun auditions for the new Bond.
“The search for the next James Bond is under way,” it said in a statement.
“While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right.”
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The studio had previously announced that the next movie will be directed by Denis Villeneuve (Dune) and written by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders).
Elordi is one of more than half a dozen actors whose names have been touted as possible contenders to step into the suave shoes of Craig, with others including Superman star Henry Cavill, Callum Taylor (Fantastic Beasts), Idris Elba (Luther), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (28 Years Later), Theo James (Divergent) and Harris Dickinson (Where the Crawdads Sing).
However, 53-year-old Elba said this week that despite persistent speculation, he was never a serious contender for the role.
“They’re going younger,” he told People. “I wish them all the luck of the world. I can’t wait – it’s going to be amazing.
“I’m honestly not in the race … I wasn’t in the race in the first place.”
Elordi is certainly younger – and British entertainment journalist Marina Hyde said earlier this month that she had heard from several sources that he was the frontrunner to be Bond.
“People already want to sleep with Jacob Elordi,” Hyde said on her podcast The Rest is Entertainment.
“He is gen Z A list… It’s interesting that if they did do that, they’ve totally skipped millennials. There’ll never have been a millennial Bond.”
Her podcast co-host, author and TV presenter Richard Osman, added that, at 28, Elordi could easily do “a good 10 years” in the role.
“That’s what they want – they want somebody that’s going to own this for a generation,” he said.
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Osman’s comments echo previous reports by entertainment websites that casting director Nina Gold will seek an actor who is young enough to be Bond in at least three or four movies.
Daniel Craig played James Bond, AKA 007, in five films from 2006 to 2021: Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre and No Time to Die.
Most of Craig’s predecessors – Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, George Lazenby and Sean Connery – also played the role over multiple movies. An exception was Australian Lazenby, whose single performance as 007 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969 earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
When Amazon MGM announced it had begun auditions, it reportedly sparked a surge in punter support for Elordi on betting website Oddschecker, where the odds on him winning the role shortened from 6/1 to 4/1. By this week he was still among the punters’ top three, with 36-year-old Turner and 29-year-old Dickinson considered his biggest rivals for the role.
Along with age, a BBC article this week claimed that being “British (ish)” is also among the five boxes an aspiring Bond must tick. Nonetheless, it suggested the fact that Lazenby and Irishman Brosman had previously played the character might offer hope to “Brisbane-born hunk” Elordi.
“An actor’s pedigree shouldn’t matter if he’s able to adopt the speech and manner of an expensively educated Briton – a skill Elordi demonstrated in 2023’s Saltburn,” it concluded.
English actor and former “Bond girl” Rosamund Pike, who starred alongside Elordi in Saltburn, also endorsed him in an interview this month with GQ.
“He’s a fantastic actor,” Pike said. “He certainly looks like a great Bond. I mean, why not?”
London’s The Independent newspaper has previously declared Elordi would make a brilliant replacement for Craig, cheekily suggesting he could be called “Heathcliff Bond”.
“If Elordi can sell toxic Bronte passion to multiplexes, he can sell Bond. Easily.”
Predictably, Bond fans are both divided and vocal about their views on who should join the exclusive spy club, with many social media users claiming Elordi is tall, too young, and simply not British enough.
“No! I won’t be watching if it’s him. Plus he’s too tall. And young. And not tough enough. He’s a pretty boy. They need a mid thirty tougher shorter new comer!! Preferably British,” declared one.
“Just the wrong vibe,” echoed another. “Needs enigma, steel and humour. And some miles on the clock.”
There has been some scepticism about the direction the Bond films may take after Amazon MGM took control of the franchise early last year, and Villeneuve has acknowledged previously that helming the new movie is a “massive responsibility”.
“I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory,” he said in a statement after being announced as the director last year.
“I intend to honour the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come.”
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