{"id":690913,"date":"2026-07-14T10:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/690913\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T10:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:04:11","slug":"james-norton-says-playing-bond-would-have-been-a-mixed-bag-its-an-honour-and-a-big-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/690913\/","title":{"rendered":"James Norton says playing Bond would have been a ‘mixed bag’: ‘It’s an honour and a big cost’"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Norton<\/a> has said that playing James Bond<\/a> would have been a \u201cmixed bag\u201d, as he offered words of support to whichever \u201cyoung whippersnapper\u201d is cast as the secret agent.<\/p>\n

Long before Daniel Craig hung up his gun as 007<\/a> in 2021, the rumour mill has been in near-constant overdrive<\/a> over who will play the legendary secret agent next.<\/p>\n

One name to come up time and time again over the years is that of Happy Valley star Norton, who at one point last year was the bookies\u2019 favourite to star in Denis Villeneuve\u2019s upcoming spy drama.<\/p>\n

But with casting now underway \u2013\u00a0and the team seeking a younger actor to play Bond \u2013\u00a0Norton, 40, has now spoken about the acceptance that comes with effectively ageing out of the role.<\/p>\n

In a new interview withVulture<\/a>, Norton joked that now he was no longer being asked \u201c\u2018so\u2026 James Bond?\u2019\u201d in \u201cnearly every interview\u201d, part of him felt: \u201cWow, I\u2019m getting old\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of me is relieved because when I really spent time thinking about it, it would always have been a mixed bag,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an honour and it\u2019s iconic and it\u2019s a big cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casting for the next James Bond film, which is the first to be made under Amazon<\/a>MGM<\/a> Studios, began in May.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the process, casting director Nina Gold said at the time that the team were looking for an actor who \u201coozes sex appeal\u201d and is young enough to play Bond in at least three more movies.<\/p>\n

Callum Turner<\/a>, Jacob Elordi, Damson Idris, Harris Dickinson, Tom Holland and Louis Partridge are among the bookies\u2019 favourites<\/a> to take on the role.<\/p>\n

Norton, who is currently starring in Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon, then offered some words of support to whoever is cast as Bond in the end.<\/p>\n

\"Many<\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck to whoever young whippersnapper takes the role,\u201d he said, jokingly adding: \u201cI\u2019ll be sitting there with my pipe and my book and my slippers.\u201d<\/p>\n

His words come days after Turner, who at 36 is not much younger than Norton but is considered by many to be the race\u2019s frontrunner, spoke out about the speculation surrounding him as the next Bond<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know as much as you do. Really, I know as much as you do,\u201d he told an interviewer from The Hollywood Reporter. \u201dIt is such a weird thing of something happening and nothing happening at all. I genuinely know nothing. I just find it quite amusing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Norton has said that playing James Bond would have been a \u201cmixed bag\u201d, as he offered words…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-690913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}