Callum Turner emerges as James Bond favourite as Pierce Brosnan endorses actor: ‘He’s so strong’

Bookmakers’ odds have shortened to 8/13 for the British actor, seen sipping martinis with his wife Dua Lipa at the weekend

Ten days after final screentests for the most coveted role in British cinema, one actor has emerged as a strong favourite to don the 007 tux for Denis Villeneuve’s forthcoming film.

The bookmaker William Hill has cut the odds of Callum Turner being named as the next James Bond from 3/1 to 8/13, with previous favourite Jack Lowden now at 2/1. Josh O’Connor, who also auditioned recently, is now at 9/2, with Richard Madden, Robert Pattinson and Joe Alwyn at 16/1.

The flurry of activity has been prompted by news over the weekend that Turner had resigned as director of his own production company, Twentytwo Films Ltd, which he founded last August with his wife, the musician Dua Lipa. Some took this as an indication that Turner’s movie priorities may now lie elsewhere.

On Saturday, the couple also posted to social media photographs of themselves dressed for Halloween sipping martinis – the signature cocktail of the British spy.

And in a new interview, former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan also endorsed Turner, who played his son in 2017 drama The Only Living Boy in New York. “Callum is someone I’ve worked with,” Brosnan told Vanity Fair, “and he’s so strong.”

Brosnan added: “All the men who are on the list now are actors I admire. They all have a voice and a physique, and a presence on film. They all have longevity as actors, all of these young men.”

Turner, Lowden and O’Connor are all 36-year-old white, heterosexual film stars, suggesting that whichever of them wins the role, the approach adopted by incoming owners of the brand Amazon MGM will not stray far from Ian Fleming’s template.

Speaking to GQ, Lowden said the rumours linking him to the role were “all very flattering. It’s nice to be mentioned – for any role – and I’m just not really going to add to the noise.”

Meanwhile, on Tuesday O’Connor also sought to simultaneous embrace and play down the speculation. “To be considered in that same sort of bracket is extraordinary,” he told the BBC. “It’s an incredibly bizarre pinch-me moment ... even being uttered in that same sentence and being considered for something like that.”

It is not known how imminent an announcement by the production company behind the 26th film in the series is, but producer Amy Pascal has said that the news is likely to be revealed “by the end of the year”.

Turner began his career as a model before breaking though in films such as John Boorman’s 2014 drama Queen and Country, and the second and third Fantastic Beasts films, The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Secrets of Dumbledore, in which he played Newt Scamander’s brother.

More recent films include George Clooney’s rowing saga The Boys in the Boat (2023), and love triangle romcom Eternity (2025) opposite Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller.

Turner will next be seen in the satire Rosebush Pruning, which premiered at Berlin earlier this year, and in cyberpunk series Neuromancer. He is currently in production on two films: Possession, a horror from the director behind the Smile franchise, and Marielle Heller’s The Comebacker, a sports comedy with Tom Hanks.

If named, Turner will take over the role from Daniel Craig, whose last outing as 007, No Time to Die, was released in 2021. The narrative for the 25th film in the series lent the franchise a sense of closure, with Bond apparently dying, before a title card promised: “James Bond will return.”

In February 2025, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, heirs to producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and longtime stewards of the Bond films, sold the rights for “creative control” over the franchise to Amazon MGM Studios in a deal worth more than $1bn.

Pascal and David Heyman were then brought on as producers of the new film, followed by Dune’s Villeneuve as director and Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight as screenwriter. It is said to be scheduled for release in 2028.

Broccoli, who retains some ownership rights to the character, said last year that the new Bond would be “a man”, adding: “He’ll likely be in his 30s. Whiteness is not a given.”

The hiring of Villeneuve has led many to suspect the new Bond film will be gritty, serious and cinematic, unlike some of the more tongue-in-cheek instalments led by Roger Moore and Sean Connery.

Speaking after the announcement of his involvement, Knight said: “I will be able to produce something that’s the same but different, and better, stronger and bolder.”

Craig’s announcement of his intention to retire from the role, as well as the considerable delay in the release of his final Bond film because of Covid, meant many actors have had their names linked to the role over the past four years.

Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hardy and Idris Elba were long considered frontrunners, but all three aged out of the running the longer production on a new film was delayed.

Since then, other names in the running have included Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Tom Holland, James Norton, Damson Idris, Henry Cavill, Theo James, Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal and Jamie Dornan.

The first actor to play the role of Bond was Scottish star Connery in 1962’s Dr No. So successful was the film that he returned to make four further films over the next five years, which are considered by many as some of the franchise’s finest: From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball and You Only Live Twice.

Fleming’s choice for the role, the English actor David Niven, starred in the non-canonical original Casino Royale (1967), while the Australian star George Lazenby joined for one outing, 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, before Connery rejoined for Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

Moore then lent the series a more ironic spin for his seven films between 1973 and 1985, including Octopussy and The Spy Who Loved Me, with Connery coming back in 1983 for Never Say Never Again.

The role then went to British actor Timothy Dalton for two films in the late 1980s; a five-year gap preceded Irish actor Brosnan’s debut in 1995 with GoldenEye. He shot four films as 007 before Craig’s tenure began.

The official James Bond films have so far made a total of $7.8bn, making the franchise the fifth highest-grossing in history. Proceeds from merchandise and sponsorship deals are estimated to far exceed that figure.