James Bond Producers Focused On Finding New Villain Rather Than 007 Himself

Ah, we ~weren't~ expecting that...

James Bond Producers Focused On Finding New Villain Rather Than 007 Himself

The longtime producers of James Bond have revealed they’re “nowhere near” casting an actor as the new 007. But they are focused on the next Bond villain…


The fact that we’re all desperate to know who will be the next actor to play James Bond is a testament to how popular the Bond franchise is. But, sadly, it looks like we’re still a ways away from knowing.

Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, who have produced every Bond film for the past thirty years, recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about casting the next 007 spy… And Broccoli basically said we shouldn’t expect an announcement any time soon.

“When we get to a point like we are now, we have to think about the trajectory of the Bond films and the storylines and where we want to take them. So, that’s really the main focus at the beginning.”

“Once we have a sense of where we want to go, then we’ll start thinking about casting. We’re not just casting someone for one film. We’re casting someone, hopefully, for a decade, at least. It’s a big decision to make, and we’re nowhere near making that decision.”

Barbara Broccoli

Broccoli then went on to reveal that they’re currently focused on the next Bond villain rather than Bond himself because the villain is the character that drives the story.

It looks like we might know who the next Bond villain is before we know who’s the next Bond… Image Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing

“We always sit down with our writers, and we start by thinking about ‘What is the world afraid of?’ We start by thinking about, ‘Who’s the Bond villain?’ We try to focus on that as the sort of uber story…”

We’d personally love to see Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy or Jamie Campell Bower – who’s admitted he’d love to play a Bond villain – as the next foe Bond goes against.

Of course, there are an array of actors who have admitted they’d love to play James Bond – Miles Teller, for instance. Plus, many actors – like Idris Elba, Tom Hardy and Henry Cavill – have been fan-cast as the next Bond. But Broccoli advised any actor wanting the role needs to seriously think about the obligations that come with being James Bond.

“Any actor that would be thinking about this has got to think about how it would change their life. Daniel [Craig] certainly was reluctant when we first approached him…”

Barbara Broccoli

“You become an ambassador for the cinema and people recognize you as being associated with the character. It’s got a lot of different elements to it. But the time commitment is certainly a long-term commitment, and not everybody is willing to do that; multiple pictures over many years. Daniel’s done sixteen years’ time.”

At this rate, it feels like it’ll be sixteen years until Broccoli and Wilson reveal who the next Bond will be. At least in the meantime, we have the major James Bond announcement that Ian Fleming publications have promised to give us on October 5th.

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