In just a few weeks, No Time To Die finally, finally, enter theaters, meaning we’re about to witness the last ever movie starring Daniel Craig as James Bond. The fervent interest in who’s going to replace him as 007 is reaching fever pitch, then, with the odds-on favorites to succeed him in the role of the super-spy changing all the time. According to the latest betting odds, though, Venom: Let There Be Carnage star Tom Hardy is once again the top choice.
As per betting aggregator US-Bookies (via CinemaBlend), Hardy has resumed his place as the favorite to be Bond No. 7. For the past month, Bridgerton star RegĂ©-Jean Page has been occupying that spot but now long-term contender Hardy is back in play. Hardy’s odds have risen to 9/4 while Page’s have dipped to 16/5, although he’s still the second favorite.
All the other usual suspects are in the current top 10, including The Nevers actor James Norton (11/2), Outlander‘s Sam Heughan (19/2) and star of Marvel’s Eternals, Richard Madden (20/1). Not to mention heavyweights Henry Cavill (10/1) and Idris Elba (9/1), who have probably been linked to the part for as long as Hardy has. Two left-field contenders, however, are This is Us actor Justin Hartley (14/1) – would producers cast an American as the British icon? – and Lashana Lynch (9/1).
Lynch, of course, features in No Time to Die as Nomi, the MI6 agent who’s taken over the 007 codename following Bond’s retirement in Spectre. When this news came out, there was some confusion that Lynch was officially replacing Craig as a gender-swapped, race-flipped Bond, which might be why her odds are so high.
Page may have slipped into second place because of the recent news that he’s headlining a reboot of The Saint, another classic spy character, for Paramount. Still, that puts him off the table no more than Hardy, who’s got his own commitments to Sony’s Spider-Man universe. It will probably be some time before we discover who is the next James Bond, but that won’t stop the speculation from raging on.
No Time To Die arrives in US theaters on October 6th, and in the UK on September 30th.