Amidst a slew of new updates and additions to some of the biggest franchises in the game, James Bond is still at a stalemate with no official plans to continue the story. Last seen on the big screen in 2021’s No Time to Die with Daniel Craig, the series is now in the midst of its second-longest gap in theatrical releases ever, only trailing the six-year gap between Timothy Dalton’s License to Kill (1989) and Pierce Brosnan’s GoldenEye (1995). The franchise also changed hands in a deal that was finalized in March 2025, as producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson gave complete control of Bond to Amazon and set the saga up for a new chapter.
Over the years, countless major Hollywood names have been in the running to be the eighth actor to play James Bond in film after Craig was featured in five films from 2008 to 2021. Most prominently, young stars like Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass), Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein), and Jonathan Bailey (Wicked) have been touted as potential options for the role, along with superhero movie mainstays like Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) and Tom Holland (the MCU’s Spider-Man quadrilogy). As the conversation heats up surrounding the character’s future, one actor in the running shared his thoughts on the process.
Speaking with Esquire UK, Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page spoke about the speculation that he is in the running to be the next actor to play James Bond. Calling it “strange” and “not normal,” he admits that he navigates this conversation based on “what is useful” and how it serves him in his job as an actor so that he can deliver the best performance possible:
“It is strange, it’s not normal. How I navigate it is very much about what is useful, what serves me in my job, in being able to deliver what I need to deliver to an audience, and a lot of that is just grounding.”
He also admitted that the conversation gets “quite loud on the inside” and becomes “very, very intense” for him. However, he has found a way to navigate those talks surrounding him to make things as normal as he possibly can on a daily basis:
“It does get quite loud on the inside, like it was very, very intense, that combination of conversation, and I think I worked quite consciously to be able to navigate that environment with some normalcy for myself.
Regé-Jean Page has been a consistent contender in James Bond talks for years, as the fandom quickly latched onto him after his breakout performance in Bridgerton. He even got an endorsement to play the role from former Bond star Pierce Brosnan, saying he would be “wonderful” in the black suit and tie. While this casting would surely win over plenty after Daniel Craig’s run, there is no telling when the franchise will get back on its feet five years after its most recent new entry.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
