The question of who will play the next James Bond has long been a matter of fascination for the internet. For the past few years, countless articles, tweets, Reddit posts have sprung up, speculating about the mysterious identity of the actor who will fill the shoes of Daniel Craig in the iconic spy thriller franchise. This year, Riz Ahmed even wrote a TV show hinging around the joke that absolutely everyone is obsessed with making guesses about the next James Bond.
Well, another day, another theory. Yesterday, news began to spread that Jessie Buckley, winner of this year’s Best Actress Oscar, would be taking over the role after a “report” from Euronews.
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Naturally, the internet was sent into total uproar. A woman?! As Bond?! It’s a longstanding debate at this point, with quite a few Bond fanboys arguing that this is simply too woke… and quite a few feminists arguing that maybe we could write a new spy lead that isn’t a misogynist from another era instead of trying to update Mr. Bond. Even Helen Mirren weighed in, saying in a recent interview, “I’m such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy. You can’t have a woman. It just doesn’t work… James Bond has to be James Bond, otherwise it becomes something else.”
The speculation, picked up by outlets including USA Today and Marie Claire Australia, quickly gained traction, and many of us started to think that the new James Bond could, in fact, be a woman. However, the original story posted on Euro News was, it turns out, April Fool’s satire.
Yes, the news that Jessie Buckley is taking over as James Bond is totally false. So, internet, you can stand down.
As for who will play Bond in the upcoming Denis Villeneuve film, people have a few guesses, including Callum Turner, Harris Dickinson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jacob Elordi, Dev Patel, and Henry Cavill.
Whoever it is, they’ll take over from Craig, who starred as the spy in five films from 2005 until 2021. Before him actors such as Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery and Roger Moore filled the role.