It’s been two years and five months since Daniel Craig’s final Bond film hit cinemas – and we finally know (maybe) who his successor is.
As reported by The Sun this morning, 33-year-old British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, has been offered the role, with 007 production company Eon expecting him to put pen to paper “in the coming days”. His first outing as cinema’s most famous spy is expected to start filming this year, after it was delayed by the Hollywood strikes that disrupted shooting schedules in 2023.
“Bond is Aaron’s job, should he wish to accept it. The formal offer is on the table and they are waiting to hear back,” said a source. “As far as Eon is concerned, Aaron is going to sign his contract in the coming days and they can start preparing for the big announcement.” Eon have yet to make an official statement about the rumour.
Taylor-Johnson is already an established name in Hollywood, and has appeared in a number of blockbuster franchises – including two Marvel movies. He isn’t as well-known as other actors who’d been rumoured for the part though, such as Idris Elba and Henry Cavill. Read on to learn more about the new man with a license to kill.
Who is Aaron Taylor-Johnson – and what are his best-known roles?
Born Aaron Perry Johnson in High Wycombe, north-west of London, in 1990, Taylor-Johnson started out as a child actor in an array of British television series such as The Bill and Feather Boy. His big break came when he was 19 and played a young John Lennon in well-received origin story Nowhere Boy. It was there that he met his future wife, director Sam Taylor-Johnson. One year later, in 2010, he appeared in hugely successful superhero comedy Kick-Ass, which has since become a cult classic.
He is also well-known for a recurring role in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe as Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver (Captain America: Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age Of Ultron), the brother of Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda (Wandavision). In August, his third Marvel movie (for Sony’s Spider-Man related universe) will be released – Kraven The Hunter, in which he plays the titular Russian immigrant on a mission to become the world’s greatest huntsman.
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Other notable entries in Taylor-Johnson’s CV include last year’s blockbuster Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt, the Christopher Nolan sci-fi Tenet, a music video for 2011 R.E.M. track ‘Überlin’, spy spoof prequel The King’s Man, Nocturnal Animals with Amy Adams, and Robert Eggers’ hotly anticipated gothic horror Nosferatu. In total, he has 51 screen credits from his 23-year career so far.
Taylor-Johnson is arguably more famous than Craig was when he accepted the Bond gig in 2005. Craig had just come off the gritty crime thriller Layer Cake, a much-loved title but hadn’t been in anything as widely seen as Taylor-Johnson’s superhero movies. He was 36 at the time, three years older than Taylor-Johnson is now. Craig is yet to comment publicly on Taylor-Johnson’s rumoured casting.