Twenty years ago, Rupert Friend’s career could have been put on a different trajectory when the actor auditioned to play James Bond.
The British star was in the running to replace Pierce Brosnan as 007 for 2006 film Casino Royale, when he was just 22. But despite auditioning for the role, in screen tests that are available online, he claims he torpedoed his own chances by removing himself from contention.
”I was like, ‘I am too much of a fan of the franchise to be the guy who f***s it up,’” the actor told The Times in a new interview. “I felt that I hadn’t seen enough of the world.”
Friend, who’d starred in 2004 drama The Libertine, went on to play CIA operative Peter Quinn in TV thriller Homeland, and had film roles in Starred Up (2013), The Death of Stalin (2017), and three Wes Anderson films: The French Dispatch (2021), Asteroid City (2023) and The Phoenician Scheme (2025).
Other actors who tested for Bond before Daniel Craig won the role was Banshee and The Boys actor Antony Starr, Avatar’s Sam Worthington and future Superman Henry Cavill.
Hugh Jackman, years after making his debut as Wolverine in X-Men (2000), famously turned down the chance to audition for the role.
There’s a new Bond star on the horizon, with an announcement expected to be made shortly. The selected actor will succeed Craig in the role, who led five films in total, right up until 2021’s No Time to Die.
Slow Horses star Lowden is the bookies’ current favourite to succeed Craig, with other contenders including Callum Turner and Jacob Elordi.
The forthcoming 007 film’s screenwriter, Steven Knight, recently revealed that the chosen actor has been cast – and hinted that he’s been writing with the actor in mind.
Knight appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme, where he 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 earlier this month. “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 Craig, Knight squirmed, adding: "I’ll refer you to my previous answer.”
The decision was made by producers 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.”
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