Steven Knight, the screenwriter of the new James Bond film, has revealed that the next 007 has been cast – and hinted that he’s been writing with the actor in mind.
Peaky Blinders creator Knight is currently writing the 26th Bond film, which will reboot the franchise with a new actor in the lead role, and he suggested his job recently got a little easier when he found out who producers had chosen as the man for the most coveted role in cinema.
Days after Gary Oldman claimed that producers had already decided who would play the British spy, Knight appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme, and was asked whether he had written the film with the chosen actor in mind or based on what he already knew about the character.
“It’s a bit of both,” he replied in the interview on Tuesday (8 September). “It does make life a little bit easier if you know who that person is, but also you have to write the character, not the actor.”
When questioned about when exactly he found out who was going to succeed Daniel Craig in the role, Knight squirmed, adding: "I’ll refer you to my previous answer.”
Earlier this week, Oldman threw his support behind Slow Horses co-star Jack Lowden, who has in recent weeks emerged as the bookmakers’ favourite to play the role. Other mooted frontrunners for the part include rising star Jack Barton (Heartstopper), Callum Turner (One Night Only), Jacob Elordi (Wuthering Heights), and Harris Dickinson (Babygirl).
The decision is being made by Amy Pascal and David Heyman, as well as Dune filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, who will direct the film.
Knight said that he’s “trying to shut out” the frenzied interest in the project, which will be the first Bond film since long-time producer Barbara Broccoli handed the keys for the Aston Martin over to Amazon.
“The only thing I can say is it feels like I’m doing my duty for king and country – if you’re a British writer, you have to do it.”
He continued: “The thing with Bond is it’s its own universe and its own franchise. Obviously, you have to move it along, but I love where it sits. I love that it’s British and it’s not DC or Marvel.”
Knight said he “feels a responsibility to” author Ian Fleming’s source material”.
The last Bond film to be produced was 2021’s No Time to Die, which served as Craig’s fifth and final outing as the spy. The new film is not expected to start shooting until Villeneuve has released Dune: Part 3 in December.
Speaking to The Independent back in June, casting director Debbie McWilliams, who helped select previous Bond actors such as Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Craig, said that “it is absolutely essential that [Bond] retains a total enigma”.
“I don’t want to see [Elordi, Turner, et al] as Bond because we now know so much about them,” she added. “We want to know as little about them personally as possible, because that’s what spies are. We don’t need to know where he goes shopping or who his parents are, or where he lives … He’s licensed to kill, and we have to believe that he can do that. If you don’t, then you’ve lost the audience.”
Last week, Rory Kinnear, who played the supporting character of Bill Tanner in the Craig era of Bond films, spoke about the possibility of returning to 007 for the reboot. The actor, who featured in four Bond films, said he was hopeful that the new entry would retain a degree of “continuity” with Craig’s run.
“That’s the exciting thing,” he told The Times. “I’m sure they’ll want to hold on to some continuity, what it means to people. But there’ll be a whole different approach.”
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