Aaron Taylor-Johnson has long been the bookies’ favourite to be cast as the next James Bond.
Back in March, multiple reports claimed the 34-year-old Kraven the Hunter star had been formally offered the role after rumours that he impressed 007 producer Barbara Broccoli.
When questioned about it all, the star has played it very coy, with journalists who interviewed him highlighting he looked like he wasn’t able to talk about it.
Yet months have passed since all that news, and we still haven’t received an official announcement.
Now, it’s just possible that Daniel Craig’s enlightening memories of his 007 casting almost 20 years ago may hold the key to what’s really going on at EON Productions.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, when Pierce Brosnan’s Bond era ended, Broccoli and her brother Michael G Wilson “began looking at 200 actors across three continents over a period of two years”. And according to Craig, he first met her at a funeral in India when she asked him to come for a cup of tea at EON Productions in Piccadilly, London.
The outgoing Bond recalled: “Not knowing what that was code for. I went to an office in Piccadilly at EON, sat down with them, and she basically offered me the job there and then… outright. [But] was a bit more complicated than that.”
We know that Craig, who had impressed Broccoli in 1998’s Elizabeth, went on to do the traditional 007 auditions and compete against the likes of a young Henry Cavill. Now if Craig’s recollections are correct, this could explain those Aaron Taylor-Johnson rumours.
Our best bet is that Broccoli gave Taylor-Johnson a tap on the shoulder at some point last year and invited him to tea at EON Productions. If she’s as keen on him as she was on Craig then it’s possible he was outright offered the role like the former 007.
That would explain the rumours of a formal offer months ago before going into auditions with other possible contenders, just in case the frontrunner wasn’t quite right for the role. He’s got to have a screen test in that towel from Sean Connery’s From Russia with Love, after all.
Whatever the case, surely 2025 is the year we find out who is cast as the next Bond, and we wouldn’t be surprised if Taylor-Johnson takes up the Licence to Kill next.
