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I’ve always loved James Bond.
Casino Royale is the first film I remember watching with my dad. I distinctly remember him covering my eyes during the scene where Bond is tied naked to a chair and hit with a rope. Probably not the most age-appropriate viewing, but to this day, it’s one of my favourite films.
We watched No Time to Die as a family at the cinema when it came out in 2021, and I’ve been waiting impatiently to find out who will replace Daniel Craig ever since.
There have been rumours for years, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Idris Elba and Jacob Elordi all tipped for the role. Pretty much every handsome British actor (and Elordi) has been linked to it at some point. But now, we’re finally getting somewhere.
Reports suggest the search has narrowed to a handful of contenders, with Josh O’Connor, Jack O’Connell, Callum Turner and Jack Lowden among the names being floated. Turner and Lowden appear to be the frontrunners.
I have never felt more passionately about a casting decision in my life. The next James Bond has to be Jack Lowden.
Watch the trailer for season six of Slow Horses here. Post continues below.
I’m currently watching the latest season of Slow Horses, and my god, it’s great.
Starring Gary Oldman, Lowden, and a ridiculously talented ensemble cast (including our very own Hugo Weaving), it’s funny, clever and twisty — the kind of show that has you bargaining for “just one more episode” every single night.
Lowden plays River Cartwright, an MI5 agent who’s talented enough to be exceptional but keeps making big mistakes — which is how he ended up at Slough House, the MI5 dumping ground for screw-ups.
He’s impulsive and reckless, cynical and sarcastic, but he’s good at what he does. Like Bond, he has that je ne sais quoi.
My favourite River: undercover, glasses-wearing River from season two. Image: Apple TV.
Lowden is essentially auditioning for James Bond in front of our eyes.
The next Bond has been in the works for almost five years. After Craig finished up in 2021, things went quiet until Amazon MGM took over the franchise in 2025, signing on Denis Villeneuve (Dune) to direct and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight to write. The official casting search kicked off in May and the film is due to go into production next year.
Callum Turner is the more obvious commercial choice. I can already see the Omega and Aston Martin ads, with his wife Dua Lipa singing the theme song. Him as Bond would make money — blockbuster money.
He’s also undeniably handsome. I get the appeal. But (sorry), he comes across a little stiff! Lowden, on the other hand, can be funny and a little self-deprecating but also suave and a leading man.
Image: Getty.
That’s what I loved about Daniel Craig. He wasn’t just sexy. He was charming, funny, emotionally complicated and capable of some really tough sh*t. Craig wasn’t a household name when he landed Bond, either.
Former Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams, who helped cast Craig, Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton, has argued that the next actor should be relatively unknown. She specifically questioned the more famous contenders, including Turner, because audiences already know so much about them.
Sure, if you’re paying as much attention as I am, you’ll know a few things about Lowden (like the fact he’s married to Saoirse Ronan), but he’s nowhere near as famous as Turner.
In September, his Slow Horses co-star Gary Oldman publicly threw his support behind him.
“My fingers are crossed for Jack,” he said on Canada’s The Morning Show.
When asked about Oldman’s comment in a GQ profile published this week, Lowden said: “It’s all very flattering. It’s nice to be mentioned — for any role — and I’m just not really going to add to the noise.”
(What a British response.)
Jack Lowden and Gary Oldman in Slow Horses season six. Image: Apple TV.
In the same profile, I learnt something interesting: when Nina Gold, the casting director behind Slow Horses, asked Lowden to tape an audition for the show, she said: “I knew he was River in seconds”.
Gold is now leading the search for 007. Case closed, surely?
While writing this piece, I also conducted some very important market research, asking the women around me whether they’d prefer a man who is charming and sexy or charming and funny (Lowden is the latter, Turner the former).
Every single one said charming and funny. I gave them zero context and the sample size was, let’s say, intimate, but I don’t think that matters??
The next Bond doesn’t just need to look good in a tuxedo, he needs to be someone we actually want to spend the next decade watching. Sure, Turner is pretty to look at, but just watch Slow Horses and you’ll know Lowden has range.
I’ll obviously watch if Turner gets the part, I’m not a monster. But if Lowden doesn’t, I’ll be crying into a Martini (shaken, not stirred).
Feature Image: Getty.