“No Time To Die,” the final James Bond movie with Daniel Craig in the lead role, continues to be delayed in hopes it can be released in front of theatre audiences, unlike Wonder Woman 1984, which was viewed in people’s homes.
The movie was originally supposed to come out in 2020 and is now being moved from its Easter weekend release of April 2 to sometime in the fall.
Craig is set to retire his Bond suit after the film and online sportsbook [Sportsbook not available for your region] has released odds on who will be the next actor to become the fictional character created by novelist Ian Fleming.
British actor Tom Hardy is the betting favorite at +210 and is followed by James Norton (+325), Idris Elba (+500), Rege-Jean Page (+700) and Sam Heughan (+800) to round out the top five choices on the oddsboard.
Who Are Betting Favorites to Become The Next James Bond?
Odds as of January 19 at [Sportsbook not available for your region]
Who Provides The Best Value?
The one question in entertainment that many people are asking themselves is who will be the next James Bond. Many news outlets have speculated that it might be Idris Elba, and I think that is an outstanding choice. At +500 odds to become the next James Bond actor, Elba is a good value pick option.
The London-born actor would break the color barrier to become the first Black person to play James Bond. He has shown he has serious acting chops from his role on the TV show The Wire and in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. He has also been around action movies like Pacific Rim and the villain in Hobbs & Shaw.
Elba would be a terrific choice to replace Craig and would offer a new and modern direction to the Bond series, which has had a white actor for the first 25 movies. He is someone I think can bring a lot of great characteristics to the role and with his James Bond actor odds at +500, the oddsmakers think so too.
Who Will Be The Next James Bond?
My choice to replace Craig is none other than Tom Hardy. Hardy has been rumored and linked to the role and is now the +210 favorite in betting odds to become the next 007.
Hardy has been in a ton of action movies, including Venom, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Dark Knight Rises. He is no stranger to lighting up the big screen with his intense acting and ability to enhance scenes.
Hardy showed in the Mad Max movie that he is without question a leading man. He has everything you want in a Bond character. He is poised, capable of big action sequences, British, and most importantly, he has the suaveness that is necessary to be Bond.
One thing we know about Hardy is that he immerses himself in any role he takes on. He is a phenomenal actor and I think he would be able to bring a ton of depth to the character and his rigidness would be a new look for 007. It would also be absolutely incredible to hear the guy who portrayed Bane in The Dark Knight Rises movie utter the words “shaken, not stirred.”