Slowly but surely, the pieces of the next Bond film are falling into place. We know that Denis Villeneuve (best known for the Dune films) will direct the first instalment in Amazon MGM Studios’ relaunch of the famous spy franchise. We also know that Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is the one picking up his pen to write the script.
But what we’re yet to find out is which two actors will eventually strike steely-eyed poses on the poster. Who will replace Daniel Craig as 007? And which star will follow Ana de Armas in becoming a Bond girl? While we await confirmation of this all-important casting, here are our top guesses of who might play the secret agent’s sexy sidekick …
Marisa Abela
Marisa Abela
LIA TOBY/GETTY IMAGES
28, British
Best known for playing Amy Winehouse in Back to Black and Yasmin in the finance drama Industry, Abela is no stranger to onscreen espionage. This year she appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s thriller Black Bag as a satellite imagery specialist working for the National Cyber Security Centre. Early in the film, she stabs her cheating boyfriend through the hand with a steak knife. Pretty hardcore.
• What does it take to be a Bond girl?
Isabela Merced
Isabela Merced
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23, American
Being half-Peruvian, Merced would follow in the footsteps of two recent Latin American Bond girls: Stephanie Sigman as Estrella in Spectre and Ana de Armas as Paloma in No Time to Die. She’s among the youngest contenders, but her action-adjacent roles in Alien, Madame Web and Superman mean she’s well prepared. If the next Bond is in his twenties — ie much younger than his predecessors — she may just be perfect.
Florence Pugh
Florence Pugh Marleen Moise/Getty Images
MARLEEN MOISE/GETTY IMAGES
29, British
From Thunderbolts to Oppenheimer, Black Widow to Midsommar, Pugh has proved her talent and emotional range. Before all that, though, she was cast alongside Alexander Skarsgard in the BBC’s adaptation of John le Carré’s The Little Drummer Girl, which follows an undercover plot to track down a terrorist and is packed with shooting, scheming and snogging — all useful skills for a Bond girl.
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Matilda De Angelis
Matilda De Angelis
MARIA MORATTI/GETTY IMAGES
29, Italian
Remember Citadel, the extravagant Amazon series about an international spy agency featuring Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra? Well, De Angelis did a stellar job in the title role of its Italian spin-off, Citadel: Diana, which centred on an agent who gets stuck behind enemy lines in Milan. That means she already knows how to fist-fight, how to handle a gun and — most importantly — how to make powerful men feel nervous.
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Zendaya
Zendaya
OCONNOR-ARROYO//THE MEGA AGENCY
28, American
Not many actresses under the age of 30 have a CV as impressive as Zendaya’s, which includes Challengers, Dune, Spider-Man, and Christopher Nolan’s much-awaited blockbuster The Odyssey. But let’s not forget that as a teenager she had her spy series, KC Undercover, in which she played a tech-savvy high schooler recruited as a government agent. Ideal training for Bond badassery.
Mia Threapleton
Mia Threapleton
LIONEL HAHN/GETTY IMAGES
24, British
A wild card, possibly, but Kate Winslet’s lookalike daughter smashed it in The Buccaneers and Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, so seems entirely ready for a heftier, more action-orientated role. Plus, on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival this spring, she nailed Bond girl glamour, appearing in a green satin gown and dark blonde Hollywood waves.