Credit: MGM/EON ProductionsWhile it has yet to be revealed which actor will be stepping into the role of James Bond in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming film reboot, 2026 has already given us two new Bond actors.
007 First Light‘s James Bond Sets Out to “Earn the Number”
Earlier this year, IO Interactive released the long-awaited game 007 First Light, the third-person action-adventure video game starring Patrick Gibson (Dexter: Original Sin) as a young Royal Navy air crewman recruited into MI6’s Double O program. Although Bond spends much of the story on a globe-trotting mission to “earn the number,” he eventually becomes 007 in the game.
SilverFin‘s James Bond Doesn’t Have the Number
A second new Bond actor was recently unveiled, with 24-year-old Isaac Rouse announced to be playing a teenage version of the character during his time at Eton, in a new audio dramatization of Charlie Higson’s first Young Bond novel SilverFin.
As a teenager, however, Rouse’s Bond will not “earn the number.”
Related: Amazon MGM’s ‘James Bond’ Reboot Could Make Franchise History With Multiple Actors Playing 007
SilverFin was followed by several sequels from Higson: Blood Fever, Double or Die, Hurricane Gold, and By Royal Command. However, the series later continued under author Steve Cole, with the titles Shoot to Kill, Heads You Die, Strike Lightning, and Red Nemesis.
Even by the end of the series, Bond still doesn’t have his signature Double O status.
With that said, Higson has a new novel releasing later this year titled King Zero, an adult story set within the same continuity as the Young Bond series. The book hits shelves on September 24.
Still, for many, Young Bond: SilverFin Part 1 will feel like a breath of fresh air.. He might not have the 007 designation, but as Daniel Craig says in No Time to Die (2021), “it’s just a number.”
“On his first day at his new school, James Bond is about to make his very first enemy, and is soon plunged into a deadly adventure that will take him from the playing fields of Eton to the murky waters of Loch Silverfin…,” the website’s description reads, adding, “A monstrous secret lurks beneath its icy surface… a secret that threatens to plunge the world into a new era of warfare.”
The audio series adapts SilverFin across 16 half-hour episodes, split into two box sets for roughly eight hours of drama.
Young Bond: SilverFin Part 1 will be released in October and is now available for pre-order.
Amazon’s MGM James Bond Film Reboot
Meanwhile, the untitled Bond film is underway, with Nina Gold reportedly leading the hunt. Denis Villeneuve, the man behind the Dune films, is directing, and Steven Knight (the creator of Peaky Blinders) is on script duties, while David Heyman (the Harry Potter films) and Amy Pascal (Spider-Man: Homecoming) are onboard as producers.
Whoever ends up donning the tux will follow in the footsteps of Daniel Craig, who starred in five films: Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).
Craig himself followed five actors before him: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan.
Which Bond project are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments!
