The next Bond girl short list: Zendaya, Florence Pugh and the scream queen you didn’t see coming

Here we go again: the guessing game over who gets to be the next Bond girl is in full swing, and honestly, it is a bit of a circus right now. No one even knows who the next James Bond is, let alone who gets the glamorous (or deadly, or both) role of the leading lady. But the latest rumblings around the Bond casting saga are, dare I say, genuinely interesting—if only because some of the names dropped feel a bit outside the usual suspects.

Who's Steering the Ship (And When's It Sailing?)

Details about the new Bond film are thin on the ground, but we do know some eye-catching talent is attached behind the scenes.

• Director: Denis Villeneuve—the bloke responsible for making sand look cool in Dune and giving audiences collective jaw ache from all that slow-burn tension
• Writer: Steven Knight—yep, the mind behind Peaky Blinders, who definitely knows his way around men in lovely coats and moral ambiguity
• Studio: Amazon MGM Studios
• Expected filming: 2027 (yeah, settle in; it's a wait)
• Rumoured release: 2028 (right, that old Bond ‘hurry up and wait’ tradition)

Will 'Bond Girl' Even Mean What It Used To?

There’s every indication that some classic Bond staples are sticking around—including the notion of a Bond girl, however modernised that label might be. With Daniel Craig's run, the role shifted from disposable love interest to, occasionally, actually being useful and complex (novel idea, that). Whether this next film gives us another femme fatale, a MI6 sidekick, or something completely unexpected is obviously still up in the air, especially with Villeneuve calling the shots. I mean, if anyone's going to try and bring actual gravitas to the Bond girl business, it's probably the guy who stuck Rebecca Ferguson in a stillsuit.

The Usual Suspects... And a Few Surprising Ones

Now, if you've been anywhere near a fan forum or the odd speculative Twitter thread, Sydney Sweeney's name keeps coming up, with Margaret Qualley hot on her heels. Both seem tailor-made for the part: photogenic, versatile, and making waves in just about anything they touch. But this week, the prediction markets are offering up a few more names who make genuine sense, if you actually look at who's connected to this film.

On the site Kalshi, punters are betting on: Zendaya, Florence Pugh, and Anya Taylor-Joy—each comfortably in the top ten of predicted picks.

Three Dune Alums Walk into a Franchise...

At first, seeing those three on a Bond girl list looks a tad unexpected, especially as they're not the default answers you see every year. But then you remember: all three have worked with Villeneuve recently on the Dune films. So, not only do they have a rapport with the director, they also tick every box for a 2020s mega-franchise—massive fanbases, critically approved, and, crucially, proven in blockbuster mayhem.

Zendaya and Pugh, in particular, are no strangers to action roles, so chucking them into an MI6 rumble wouldn't be a stretch. And Anya Taylor-Joy, while maybe best known for staring people into psychic submission, is apparently the bookies’ favourite among the Dune crowd at the moment.

Will Any of Them Say Yes?

The real hitch here is availability and interest. With this much star power (and frankly, this much clout), the next Bond film will have to do some convincing if it wants one of these three to sign on—especially as all of them are already the leads in their own universes.

Still, Kalshi shows Taylor-Joy as the top Dune candidate, nipping at the heels of Sweeney and Qualley in the predictions. Any of the lot could easily reinvent the trope, depending on what Villeneuve and Amazon MGM are up for.

As one fan joked online: 'If you want to break the Bond formula, at least do it with someone who knows how to stare down a sandworm.'