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Slow Horses star Jack Lowden may be the bookies’ current favourite to play 007 at the moment, but the book franchise’s new author isn’t convinced that he’s the man with a licence to kill.
Charlie Higson, who has written the latest James Bond book, has given his thoughts on the latest frontrunners to replace Daniel Craig as the fictional British spy – and revealed that he struggles to see any of them as the martini-drinking spook.
The actor currently with the best odds of playing Bond is Scottish star Jack Lowden, while Masters of the Air’s Callum Turner and Wuthering Heights’ Jacob Elordi are also said to be in the running.
In a new interview, Higson said he’s “not sure” whether Lowden has what it takes to play Bond. “I like him, but it’s like when Tom Hiddleston was in the running – not a convincing hand-to-hand fighter,” he said.
Jack Lowden is the current favourite to play Bond (Getty)
“With Daniel Craig you can believe him kicking the s*** out of someone,” he told The Times. “And you’ve got to believe that with Bond.”
The writer also said that he though Elordi would be “too tall” for the role, while Turner has “unconventional looks” which is “no bad thing”.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t provide any inside knowledge around the casting process. “Are they gonna go for a much younger Bond?” he continued. “Are they gonna go for an established name, something we’ve not heard of? It’ll be interesting. It’s quite exciting.”
A former writer and performer on BBC Two’s The Fast Show, Higson is best known for writing the Young Bond series of books. The spin-off to Ian Fleming’s original novels follows a teenage James Bond while studying at Eton College.
He wrote five books in the series before becoming the eighth writer to take over the adult Bond books since Fleming’s death in 1964. Higson’s On His Majesty’s Secret Service was released in 2023, while his latest novel, King Zero, comes out this month.
Since Fleming’s death, Ian Fleming Publications has released 29 novels in the Bond series, written by Kingsley Amis, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, Anthony Horowitz and Higson.
Higson is the latest author to take over Ian Fleming’s series of Bond books (Getty)
Earlier this month, Steven Knight – the writer of the 26th Bond film – revealed that producers had decided who would be the next Bond and how working on the script was proving to be “a bit easier” now he knew who would be playing the spy.
It came shortly after Lowden’s Slow Horses co-star Gary Oldman claimed that producers had already made their choice and that his “fingers are crossed” for one particular name to emerge.
Daniel Craig’s Bond swan song, No Time to Die, was released by in 2021 and since then, fans of the franchise have been desperate to know who’ll be replacing him in the next film, directed by Dune’s Denis Villeneuve. It’ll mark the first film in the franchise under the creative control of Amazon-owned company MGM, which took over from co-owner Barbara Broccoli last year.
Last month, producer Amy Pascal said that news of the next Bond will likely be out by “the end of the year”.
“We are being really, really methodical. Having worked with Barbara Broccoli at the studio, I mean, Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow,” she said.