Credit: Inside the MagicThe announcement of the next 007 actor after Daniel Craig’s five-film run is imminent.
The untitled film, referred to as James Bond 26, is being directed by Denis Villeneuve (the Dune films) and will recast the titular MI6 spy.
The actor will become the seventh to play the character in the main films, following Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.
While Amazon MGM Studios has yet to announce who will play Bond, speculation is now at an all-time high, with several reports pointing toward Jack Barton (Poor Things) and Jack Lowden (Slow Horses) being the most likely candidates. Either way, we will probably find out very soon.
In August, one of the film’s producers, Amy Pascal, told Deadline that “the end of the year is a good bet” for finding out who the actor is. And just last week, the film’s writer, Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders), implied that they have already been cast.
“I cannot speak about this subject. Much as I would dearly love to,” Knight said initially. But when asked whether he’d been writing the new film with the chosen actor in mind, he seemingly implied that he knew who’s playing 007. “It’s a bit of both,” he said. “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.”
But while Bond is being cast yet again, another version of 007 will return.
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Casino Royale (2006) was a game-changer for the Bond franchise when it was released in theaters. It wiped the slate clean both narratively and tonally, while delivering a new 007 to audiences with Daniel Craig. Similar to Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005), the film was a gritty origin story that introduced its hero early in his career.
Directed by Martin Campbell (who had previously helmed Pierce Brosnan’s debut film, GoldenEye, in 1995) and produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, Casino Royale became the 21st official James Bond film under Eon Productions.
The film stars Daniel Craig as James Bond, Eva Green as Vesper Lynd, Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, Judi Dench as M, Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter, and Giancarlo Giannini as René Mathis, and is based on Ian Fleming’s 1953 novel Casino Royale.
Casino Royale remains the grittiest film in the Bond franchise and was widely praised by audiences and critics for abandoning the campy nature previous entries had become known for. The film grossed $606 million worldwide on a budget of $102–150 million. The title song, “You Know My Name”, performed by Chris Cornell, is also considered one of the best in the franchise.
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Daniel Craig Will Return as James Bond
Now, Casino Royale is officially returning to theaters in October for its 20th anniversary.
The official James Bond social media accounts announced the worldwide theatrical return on Tuesday September 15.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, CASINO ROYALE returns to the big screen worldwide. pic.twitter.com/dOrpP3ZCwb
— James Bond (@007) September 15, 2026
Related: James Bond Officially Removed as Main Character in New 007 Reboot
Casino Royale begins with Bond (Craig) earning his 00 status, establishing that this is a younger, less experienced version of the character.
After Bond disrupts a terrorist network, MI6 discovers that Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen), a banker who finances terrorist organizations, is preparing for a massive poker game at Casino Royale in Montenegro.
Le Chiffre needs to win the game to recover a huge amount of money after losing it in a failed investment, so M (Dench) sends Bond to enter the poker tournament and bankrupt him. There, Bond meets Vesper Lynd (Green), who is assigned to accompany 007 and control the funds MI6 has provided for the game.
The story becomes much more personal than any previous film as Bond’s relationship with Vesper develops, laying the foundation for Craig’s character throughout the five-film series, which includes Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).
The theatrical re-release is being handled in the U.K. with screenings beginning from early October.
There’s also Casino Royale in Concert. The film will be screened with a symphony orchestra performing David Arnold’s score. The Royal Albert Hall in London is hosting a performance on December 30, while Birmingham Symphony Hall has a performance scheduled for October 30.
Casino Royale was a full reboot, taking Bond back to the beginning of his career rather than continuing the continuity of Pierce Brosnan’s four-film run that ended with Die Another Day (2002). However, while Casino Royale resets the entire James Bond continuity around Craig’s iteration of the character, it retained Judi Dench as M, who appeared throughout the Brosnan-era.
It remains to be seen whether any characters from the Craig-era will return in a similar way to M in Amazon MGM’s new 007 film. Rory Kinnear, who plays M’s chief of staff Bill Tanner in Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die, has expressed an interest in returning.
“I’m sure they’ll want to hold on to some continuity, what it means to people,” Kinnear recently told The Times (via The Independent). “But there’ll be a whole different approach.”
Other potential returns would include Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Ralph Fiennes as M (Mallory), and Ben Whishaw as Q. Craig himself, however, is very unlikely to return, as he was dies at the end of No Time to Die, marking the first time James Bond was ever killed on screen.
There’s no release date for the untitled Bond movie.
Will you be rewatching Casino Royale in theaters? Who do you think the new James Bond will be? Let us know in the comments down below!
