{"id":691145,"date":"2026-07-14T13:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/691145\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T13:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:03:14","slug":"west-end-star-becomes-new-bond-rival-for-callum-turner-after-rumoured-audition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/691145\/","title":{"rendered":"West End star becomes new Bond rival for Callum Turner after rumoured audition"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The process to find the next 007 is officially underway \u2013 and there\u2019s a new potential Bond<\/a> who\u2019s caught the bookies\u2019 attention. <\/p>\n

West End star Tom Francis is the latest rumoured name<\/a> to be in the running for the coveted role, overtaking Harris Dickinson as a new favourite for Daniel Craig\u2019s James Bond replacement. <\/p>\n

The 27-year-old, born in Colchester, is best known for starring as Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy Theatre, picking up an Olivier Award last year for Best Actor in a Musical. <\/p>\n

Francis made his screen debut in Netflix thrillerYou last year and took on a small role in George Clooney film Jay Kelly but is more of an established name in the theatre world, having starred in & Juliet and Hair on the West End. <\/p>\n

\"TomTom Francis is rumoured to have auditioned to play 007 (Getty)<\/p>\n

While Masters of the Air\u2019s Callum Turner is still the bookies\u2019 favourite to become the next Bond, Sky Bet recently offered odds of 10\/3 on Francis taking the role, taking him to second place on the list of possible 007s. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s bumped Babygirl star Harris Dickinson to third place, with most bookies offering odds of 4\/1 for him. Enola Holmes\u2019 Louis Partridge, Kick Ass star Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Frankenstein\u2019s Jacob Elordi are also rumoured to be in the running. <\/p>\n

Francis was rumoured to have auditioned for Bond earlier this year, with Variety<\/a> reporting in May that he had met with the franchise\u2019s casting team. <\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted Francis and Amazon for comment. <\/p>\n

While last month, it was reported that producers had set a date for the next round of James Bond auditions this summer<\/a> \u2013 and it wasn\u2019t just A-listers who were being considered for the blockbuster part. <\/p>\n

Deadline revealed the new casting director Nina Gold had been meeting with actors, with sources saying saying that they were \u201cfor lesser known names to see if anyone should be added to the list of prominent actors expected to get a call for the next round\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"CallumCallum Turner is still the top favourite to play the role (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Speculation over who\u2019ll be the next star behind the British spy\u2019s Aston Martin has been rife over the last few years, with the franchise still yet to replace Daniel Craig. The next film is set to be directed by Denis Villeneuve \u2013 however, it\u2019s unknown when fans are likely to see Ian Fleming\u2019s creation back on the big screen. <\/p>\n

Craig starred in five Bond films during his 15-year tenure in the role, bowing out with 2021\u2019s No Time to Die. <\/p>\n

The same year, Amazon bought MGM \u2013 which shared the rights to James Bond with production company Eon \u2013 before assuming creative control of the franchise in 2025<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Speaking to The Independent last month<\/a>, former Bond casting director said that she doesn\u2019t want to see Turner, Dickinson or Elordi as Bond \u2013 stressing that there needs to be an element of the unknown with whoever takes the role. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to know as little about them personally as possible, because that\u2019s what spies are,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to know where he goes shopping or who his parents are, or where he lives. We never want to see him at home. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a vital element of the whole thing is his job description. He\u2019s licensed to kill, and we have to believe that he can do that. If you don\u2019t, then you\u2019ve lost the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[230174,71525,184846,162394,6491,6494,309,96,13676,709,44184,185018,184837,6498,6500,2207,6487,6501,185932,230175,56,54,55,83596],"class_list":["post-691145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-annual-power-of-women","tag-arts-culture-and-entertainment","tag-attending","tag-awards-ceremony","tag-celebrities","tag-color-image","tag-england","tag-entertainment","tag-event","tag-fashion","tag-film-industry","tag-headshot","tag-london-england","tag-looking-at-camera","tag-one-person","tag-people","tag-photography","tag-portrait","tag-theatrical-performance","tag-tom-francis-actor","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vertical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691145","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=691145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}