Gary Oldman says Bond is already cast and his money's on Jack Lowden

Gary Oldman says Bond is already cast and his money's on Jack Lowden

Nobody asked Gary Oldman to do this. He did it anyway.

Promoting the new season of Apple TV+'s Slow Horses in an interview with Canada's The Morning Show, the Oscar-winning actor dropped what may be the biggest casting semi-confirmation in years: according to The Hollywood Reporter, Oldman told the program that Amazon MGM Studios has already chosen the next James Bond and is simply sitting on the announcement. His hope, loudly stated: that the job belongs to his Slow Horses co-star, Scottish actor Jack Lowden.

"They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet," Oldman said of the upcoming casting for Amazon MGM Studios' new Bond film. He went further. "It's been rumored that [Lowden] is on the shortlist," said Oldman. "We're going to find out pretty soon, aren't we? Because they have picked him. They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack."

Read that back slowly. He said "they have picked him." Not "I think" or "I hope." The quote sent entertainment media into a brief, beautiful panic.

It remains to be seen whether Oldman is simply going off a hunch or his widespread industry connections have provided him with some solid intel. The Hollywood Reporter reached out to reps at Amazon MGM Studios for comment. Deadline noted that Amazon MGM Studios has been approached for comment. As of this writing, neither has gotten a response. That silence is doing a lot of work right now.

Who is Jack Lowden, anyway?

If you haven't crossed paths with Lowden yet, that's about to change. He's 36 and Scottish, which puts him right around the age Daniel Craig was when he strapped into the tuxedo for Casino Royale in 2006. With Denis Villeneuve having wrapped Dune: Part Three, his 007 movie is set to start shooting sometime next year, and all eyes are on who gets to don the secret agent's tux, especially with this being the first Bond movie made without Barbara Broccoli involved. While Amazon/MGM has been keeping mum over who's going to be the next James Bond, a handful of actors have been consistently pegged as frontrunners, including Slow Horses star Jack Lowden.

Denis Villeneuve is set to direct the upcoming Bond film, with Peaky Blinders mastermind Steven Knight penning the script. That's a creative team people are genuinely excited about. Villeneuve directing a spy thriller written by Knight should be its own conversation. The casting question has been eating it alive.

Deadline reported over the summer that auditions were taking place for James Bond in August. Producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman, as well as director Denis Villeneuve, informed talent who had been shortlisted. At the time, they reported that Harris Dickinson, Callum Turner, and Jacob Elordi fit the idea of Bond that Amazon MGM Studios had in mind. Lowden's name was circling alongside those contenders, though he was rarely at the front of the betting markets the way Elordi or Dickinson were.

What matters now is that Oldman explicitly connected him to a done deal. Whether he actually has the inside track or just wanted to boost his co-star in a press tour is the question nobody can answer. Yet.

Saoirse Ronan already wants in

The story has a bonus layer. Last month, Lowden's wife Saoirse Ronan threw down the gauntlet to Bond producers about her being involved in the next film, telling Empire that she was "dead serious" about playing a Bond villain. "I think it would be really interesting, having a young female villain," she said. If Lowden does land the role, the prospect of Ronan as his on-screen nemesis is the kind of casting coup that writes itself. Two of Britain's most praised actors in their thirties, married in real life, facing off on screen in the most-watched franchise on earth.

According to Variety, Gary Oldman says Amazon has selected the next James Bond and has his fingers crossed it's his Slow Horses co-star Jack Lowden. The Oscar-winning acting icon claimed the hotly-disputed and widely-debated hunt to find the next superspy is over, and he's hoping his co-star is the name ready to be unveiled.

Why the timing matters

JoBlo pointed out something worth sitting with: Villeneuve is about to launch a press tour for Dune: Part Three, and if they announce 007 before the tour, he will be inundated with questions that could overshadow the film. One theory is they will announce the 007 actor just before New Year's Eve, probably sometime during the week between Christmas and New Year's.

That math tracks. Amazon would want the Bond announcement to land when it can get full spotlight treatment. Dune: Part Three press swallows everything in its path. Hold the Bond news until January, and you're controlling the news cycle for the first week of 2027.

In the meantime, Oldman's comments are doing free promotional work for every outlet covering the franchise. Wild rumors have swirled for years over who is set to step into the blood-splattered brogues of Daniel Craig, but with the next film set to go into production next year, speculation has ramped up considerably.

Lowden has not publicly responded. Amazon has not commented. And Oldman, a man who won an Oscar playing Winston Churchill, may have just accidentally started the entertainment news cycle's next three months with four sentences on a Canadian morning show.

Sources

• The Hollywood Reporter: Gary Oldman Says James Bond Has Been Cast, Hopes It's Jack Lowden
• Deadline: Gary Oldman Claims James Bond Has Been Cast As He Backs Jack Lowden
• Variety: The Next James Bond Has Been Picked, Says Gary Oldman
• JoBlo: Gary Oldman Says James Bond Has Been Cast; His Vote Goes to Jack Lowden