Bond favourite officially bows out of Amazon’s reboot race
While promoting Sam Mendes’s Beatles project, the actor put the 007 rumours to bed — and explained why they’re happy to leave the tux to someone else.
Bit of a shake-up in the race to be the next 007. Amazon MGM Studios has got their first *James Bond* film in the pipeline since they picked up the rights from EON in **2025**. They’re throwing serious money at the franchise, and they’ve got **Denis Villeneuve** at the helm, straight off his marathon stint on the *Dune* trilogy. So all eyes are on who’s going to step into Bond’s shoes—except one name that had been on everyone’s lips has apparently just taken himself out of the mix.
Harris Dickinson has pulled out of the contest to be the next James Bond.
Surprise retreat Word comes from entertainment journalist Jeff Sneider, who let slip on the Hot Mic podcast that **Harris Dickinson** was a major contender but has now bowed out. Apparently, Dickinson went so far as to meet with producers **Amy Pascal** and **David Heyman** to officially withdraw his name. No word yet from Amazon MGM, and Sneider’s tight-lipped on his sources, so don’t expect official confirmation anytime soon. If you don’t know Dickinson, you might’ve seen him in *Triangle of Sadness*, *The Iron Claw*, or *Babygirl*—or as the upstanding Brit agent in *The King’s Man* prequel. Right now, Dickinson is filming as **John Lennon** for Sam Mendes’ incredibly ambitious Beatles biopic—a four-parter, of all things, slated for **2028**. You can see how he might be a bit busy for a Bond commitment, which no doubt would want him locked in for several years. Who’s still in the mix? While Dickinson’s out, the rumour mill’s still hard at work. Current names getting bandied about include:
- Callum Turner (*One Night Only*)
- Jacob Elordi (*Frankenstein*)
- Josh O’Connor (*Disclosure Day*)
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson (*Kraven the Hunter*)
- Paul Mescal (also playing a Beatle in Mendes’ project)
More recently, Tom Francis has apparently auditioned. But just to be clear, neither Amazon MGM nor anyone close to the production has officially said who’s shortlisted or actually done a screen test. It’s all very cloak-and-dagger at this stage. The big question hanging over all this is how anyone follows up **Daniel Craig** and his fifteen years as Bond. It’s a tall order. Then again, the new *007: First Light* video game’s been a huge success, which hints that fans are pretty open-minded about a new face taking over.