By Adam Bloodworth
After years of waiting it looks like the new James Bond actor is about to be officially announced.
Indie actor Aaron Taylor Johnson has been a longtime rumoured name to step into the role of 007 following Daniel Craig, and new reports by The Sun appear to have confirmed he has been offered the role.
He has yet to confirm he will take on the role of the new Bond – but reports suggest Eon Productions behind the Bond films expect him to.
There are reports that Taylor-Johnson first did a screen test for the role in 2022 and had meetings with producer Barbara Broccoli which went “very well” last year.
Broccoli’s producer partner Michael G. Wilson confirmed the new Bond will be in his 30s, telling Deadline: “Remember, Bond’s already a veteran, he’s had some experience – he’s a person who has been through the wars, so to speak. He’s probably been in the SAS or something. He isn’t some kid out of high school that you can bring in and start off.”
Taylor-Johnson’d be the sixth actor to officially play James Bond, the MI6 spy first imagined in the spy novels of Ian Fleming during the 1930s and 1940s.
The 32-year-old is in a similar career position to Daniel Craig was when he became the new Bond in 2005: a well-respected indie actor with big films under his belt who hadn’t yet had their breakthrough mainstream leading role.
This year Taylor-Johnson stars in The Fall Guy with Ryan Gosling and the Sony-Marvel movie Kraven the Hunter. He’s married to the film director Sam Taylor-Johnson.
Read more: No Time To Die: James Bond saves Home Entertainment with £3bn boost
