Final James Bond Contenders Revealed as 007 Screen Tests Reach Final Stage
The five-year wait to discover who will replace Daniel Craig as James Bond may finally be approaching its end.
After years of betting odds, fan casting, alleged favourites and enough rumours to fill an MI6 filing cabinet, the search for the next 007 has reportedly reached its final screen-test stage. New industry reporting says Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O’Connor have all received offers to test for the role, with at least one more unidentified actor also believed to be in contention.
That is a much more significant development than another bookmaker reshuffle. These are not simply actors whose names happen to be trending around Bond. The latest reports say Amazon MGM Studios is preparing final screen tests, the kind of process traditionally used before a new Bond actor is chosen.
TheWrap reports that testing is due to begin on Friday, 23 October 2026 and continue into the following week. Amazon MGM has not officially confirmed the individual candidates, so none of these actors should yet be described as the new James Bond. But if the reports are accurate, the casting process has moved far beyond speculative lists.
And suddenly the next Bond race looks very different.
Support That Love Podcast
Enjoying our entertainment coverage? You can help support That Love Podcast and keep independent reviews, news and original storytelling going.
Want to Reach Entertainment Fans?
If you're a brand, author, publisher, streaming company, entertainment business or creator looking to reach an engaged audience, That Love Podcast offers advertising opportunities across the website, podcast and newsletter.
Jack Lowden Is Still Right at the Centre of the Bond Race
Of the reported finalists, Jack Lowden may feel like the least surprising name. The 36-year-old Scottish actor has spent years building exactly the sort of résumé that makes Bond speculation difficult to ignore. His role as River Cartwright in Apple TV’s Slow Horses has already placed him inside a British intelligence world, although Slough House is considerably less glamorous than Bond’s version of MI6.
Lowden has also built strong prestige credentials away from espionage. His work includes Dunkirk, Mary Queen of Scots and Benediction, alongside major stage success. He increasingly has the mix of dramatic credibility and physical presence normally associated with serious Bond contenders.
Earlier this month, Lowden was also leading the betting market covered by That Love Podcast. In our Next James Bond Odds 2026 report published on 5 October, he sat at 4/5, ahead of Callum Turner, Jack O’Connell and a wider group of possible candidates.
That was still only a betting snapshot. This latest report is far more meaningful. Being offered a final screen test would suggest Lowden is not merely benefiting from Slow Horses, bookmaker momentum or endorsements from people such as Gary Oldman. He would genuinely be in front of the people deciding the future of the franchise.
There is an obvious argument for him. Lowden can play controlled without becoming dull, damaged without losing humour, and intelligent without constantly announcing it. River Cartwright is not James Bond, but the performance has shown that Lowden can sell surveillance, danger, government intrigue and British understatement.
The biggest question would be whether audiences could separate him from Slow Horses. That might sound like a small issue, but Bond casting has often worked best when the actor arrives with enough recognition to generate excitement without carrying one enormous defining role.
Lowden now has to prove he can stop looking like River Cartwright and start looking like the man holding the licence to kill.
Callum Turner Could Be the Most Traditional Bond Choice
Callum Turner has been close to the top of the James Bond conversation for much of 2026. The London-born actor has already demonstrated the sort of classical leading-man presence that makes him easy to picture in a tuxedo. His work in Masters of the Air gave him experience carrying a major prestige production, while the Fantastic Beasts films exposed him to large-scale franchise filmmaking.
Turner arguably looks the most traditionally Bond-like of the three publicly named contenders. He is tall, handsome, British and comfortable playing controlled confidence without becoming completely emotionless.
That does not automatically make him the best choice. If Amazon MGM and director Denis Villeneuve want this new Bond era to feel radically different from Daniel Craig’s version, selecting the actor who most obviously fits the familiar visual template could almost feel too safe.
Yet there is a reason Turner has remained in the conversation for so long. Bond requires a strange combination of qualities. The actor has to look believable stepping out of an Aston Martin but equally believable being dragged through a bathroom wall. He needs enough charm for the seduction scenes, enough menace for audiences to believe he can kill without hesitation, and enough emotional range to carry whatever version of the character Steven Knight’s screenplay eventually creates.
Turner has not played a role identical to Bond, which may actually work in his favour. Audiences know him, but they do not already associate him overwhelmingly with one spy character. That gives Villeneuve more room to build a new identity around him.
Josh O’Connor Is Suddenly the Most Interesting Name on the Shortlist
The most fascinating development is Josh O’Connor. Earlier in the year, his name appeared around the Bond conversation without the same level of momentum as Lowden or Turner. In That Love Podcast’s 5 October odds report, O’Connor sat much further down the betting snapshot.
Now he is reportedly being invited into the final screen-test round. That changes the conversation completely.
O’Connor is not the stereotypical action-star choice, and that may be exactly why his inclusion is so interesting. His performances in The Crown, Challengers, La Chimera and God’s Own Country have shown an actor capable of awkwardness, arrogance, vulnerability, humour and emotional unpredictability.
He tends to make characters feel slightly harder to read than they initially appear. That quality could be extremely useful for James Bond.
One of the dangers after Daniel Craig is attempting to reproduce Craig’s version of 007 with a slightly younger actor. Craig’s Bond was bruised, physical, emotionally damaged and increasingly exhausted by the institution he served. Copying that template would make the next era feel like imitation.
O’Connor offers the clearest possibility of something genuinely different. You could imagine his Bond being stranger, more deceptive and perhaps closer to the unsettling intelligence operative Ian Fleming sometimes wrote rather than the straightforward action hero audiences might expect.
He would also be the casting choice most likely to make people initially say, ‘Really?’ Bond history tells us that is not necessarily a bad thing.
Daniel Craig’s announcement produced enormous backlash in 2005. He was too blond, critics said, and did not look enough like Bond. Craig ultimately became one of the most successful actors ever to play the character.
The safest-looking choice is not always the one with the highest ceiling.
There Is Still a Mystery Fourth Contender
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the report is that the final shortlist apparently contains at least four actors, but only three have been identified publicly. TheWrap reports that Lowden, Turner and O’Connor received test offers alongside an unknown actor.
That mystery candidate immediately becomes one of the most interesting elements of the entire casting process. James Bond producers have historically looked beyond whichever actor happened to be leading newspaper polls.
A surprise fourth candidate would also fit previous comments about the attraction of finding an actor who audiences do not already know too well. Former Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams has argued that the character needs to retain an element of mystery and that audiences should be able to believe the man on screen is genuinely capable of killing.
That is much harder when an actor arrives carrying enormous celebrity baggage. The mystery contender could therefore be extremely important.
Do not be surprised if the person eventually announced as Bond is not currently the loudest name on social media.
Jack O’Connell and Jacob Elordi Reportedly Miss the Final Tests
Two major names appear to have fallen away. The Hollywood Reporter, as cited by The Independent, says Jack O’Connell and Jacob Elordi are not expected to participate in these final screen tests.
O’Connell’s absence is particularly notable. He had risen sharply in Bond betting markets and recently received a public endorsement from filmmaker Danny Boyle. That pushed him into third place in our October Bond odds ranking.
But bookmaker movement and celebrity endorsements have never been the same thing as studio interest. If O’Connell really is not testing, it is another useful reminder that Bond odds should be treated as entertainment rather than inside information.
Elordi had been connected with the role for even longer. At 29, he appeared to fit earlier reports that Amazon MGM might prefer a younger actor capable of leading the franchise for a decade or more.
His absence from the reported final tests suggests either those age requirements were exaggerated or the creative team ultimately decided experience mattered more.
Interestingly, the three publicly named finalists are all 36 years old. That feels less like the dramatic youth movement some earlier rumours predicted and more like a deliberate attempt to find someone old enough to carry Bond’s authority while still young enough to headline several films.
What Happens in a James Bond Screen Test?
Final screen tests are a major part of Bond casting history. Previous Bond actors including Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan went through substantial camera tests before winning the role, while unsuccessful auditions have become part of franchise folklore.
The point is not simply to see whether somebody looks good wearing a tuxedo. Bond has unusual demands.
An actor must be convincing in action, romance, dry comedy, interrogation scenes and quiet character moments. The same performer has to move naturally from an elaborate stunt sequence into a casino without making either half feel like someone pretending to be James Bond.
Screen tests give filmmakers an opportunity to examine those contradictions. The final decision will also shape far more than one film.
Amazon MGM now has full creative control over the franchise, meaning whoever gets this job could potentially become the centre of the next decade of 007.
Advertise With That Love Podcast
Want to put your movie, series, book, entertainment brand, product or business in front of readers who love television, movies, books and pop culture? That Love Podcast offers advertising and sponsorship opportunities across the website, podcast and newsletter.
Denis Villeneuve’s Bond Era Is Finally Taking Shape
The actor will join an increasingly impressive creative team. Denis Villeneuve is directing the next James Bond film, with Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders, writing the screenplay.
Producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman are overseeing the new era after Amazon MGM took full creative control of the franchise from longtime Bond custodians Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.
That combination already suggests the new film will not simply be No Time to Die 2. Villeneuve has spent much of his career creating large-scale films that still feel controlled and psychologically serious.
Sicario, Blade Runner 2049 and the Dune films demonstrate his ability to balance spectacle with atmosphere. Knight is equally interesting.
Peaky Blinders is full of dangerous men communicating more through pauses and looks than speeches, which feels unusually compatible with Bond. The biggest unknown has always been the actor standing in the middle.
We may finally be close to getting that answer.
When Could the New James Bond Be Announced?
There is still no official announcement date. Current reporting suggests casting could potentially be completed before the end of 2026, although Amazon MGM has not publicly committed to an exact timetable.
That would fit earlier comments from producer Amy Pascal suggesting the end of the year was a realistic target for completing the search.
If the final screen tests really begin on 23 October and continue through next week, November and December suddenly become very interesting months for Bond fans.
Contract negotiations could still delay an announcement even after the creative team chooses its preferred actor. But this is no longer another vague rumour about who might be Bond.
The process appears to have reached the point where actual finalists are preparing to test. After five years of speculation, that is a major shift.
So Who Should Be the Next James Bond?
On paper, all three known contenders represent a different version of the character. Jack Lowden feels like the strongest fit for a grounded espionage-focused Bond. His work on Slow Horses gives him immediate credibility inside the intelligence genre, while his stage and film work suggests he has enough range to avoid simply reproducing River Cartwright.
Callum Turner looks like the more traditional leading-man option. If Villeneuve wants to rebuild the classic Bond image—elegant, dangerous and effortlessly charismatic—Turner makes enormous sense.
Josh O’Connor is the wildcard. He is the actor I find most intriguing because he could potentially transform the role rather than simply inhabit it. His version of Bond could feel psychologically stranger and less predictable than what audiences expect.
And then there is the unnamed fourth contender. Until Amazon MGM actually makes the announcement, that mystery actor may be the person everyone should be watching.
Final Thoughts
The next James Bond search has produced years of rumours, but this latest development feels different. Final screen tests reportedly place Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O’Connor among the last actors standing, while a fourth candidate remains hidden.
Jack O’Connell and Jacob Elordi, two names that spent significant time inside the Bond rumour machine, are reportedly not testing. Nothing is official yet.
Amazon MGM has not named Daniel Craig’s successor, and until it does, every contender remains exactly that—a contender. But if these really are the final tests, Bond fans may finally be weeks rather than years away from discovering who will introduce himself with cinema’s most famous surname.
For my money, Lowden remains the safest choice, O’Connor is the most interesting choice, and Turner may be the actor most naturally suited to the traditional image of 007. The mystery fourth actor could still ruin everybody’s predictions.
And after five years of guessing, that would be a very James Bond way for this story to end.
You May Also Love
Support That Love Podcast
Enjoyed What You Read?
Subscribe to That Love Podcast’s newsletter for the latest reviews, recommendations, entertainment news, updates and exclusive giveaways. And if you know someone who loves movies, television, books or pop culture, share this article with them too. Let’s spread the love together!
.jpg)
.jpg)
