Tom Holland’s Spider-Man co-star Jacob Batalon recently teased that he never stops talking about James Bond, but even though the 25-year-old is one of the biggest and most popular young stars in the industry, his name is very rarely one that comes up in the 007 conversation.
It’s got nothing to do with the fact he already plays an iconic pop culture figure because Henry Cavill is always in and around the contenders to throw on the tux now that Daniel Craig has gracefully bowed out despite being Superman and Sherlock Holmes at the same time, but it turns out that his youthful ambition and lifelong fandom of the Bond franchise ended up with him headlining next month’s blockbuster video game adaptation Uncharted.
In an interview with Total Film, Holland admitted that he pitched Sony the idea for an origin story revolving around cinema’s most famous secret agent, but when Eon Productions greeted him with silence, it somehow morphed into becoming Nathan Drake’s live-action debut instead.
“I had a meeting, after or during Spider-Man 2 [Far From Home], with Sony to pitch this idea of a young Bond film that I’d come up with. It was the origin story of James Bond. It didn’t really make sense. It didn’t work. It was the dream of a young kid, and I don’t think the Bond estate were particularly interested. The idea of a young Bond film sparked this idea, in turn, that you could do a Nathan Drake story as an origin story, rather than as an addition to the games. And that opened a conversation.”
Holland would have just turned 23 when Far From Home was released, and George Lazenby remains the only actor to have played the role of Bond before the age of 30. Maybe one day he’ll get the chance to suit up as 007, but Spider-Man is hardly the worst compromise in the world.