These stipulations rule out pretty much every speculated candidate—including but not limited to Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Callum Turner, Jack Lowden, and current Villeneuve collaborators Timothée Chalamet and Austin Butler—from the running. If you’ve heard their name before, they probably don’t have much of a chance of gaining a license to kill, at least according to Deadline‘s sources. Those same agents tell the trade the team is looking for someone in their late 20s or early 30s, and that the actor’s race may not matter. “Whoever it is, has to look like he could kill you with his bare hands in a trice. From the moment you see him, that has to be readily apparent,” a person named as being “close to discussions” shared.
The actor also has to fit the story Villeneuve and Peaky Blinders‘ Steven Knight, who will be penning the script, are trying to tell. While this is still speculative, Deadline says it gets the sense that the film could be going back in time to Bond’s days as a Royal Navy Commander before getting recruited by MI6. Either way, we won’t know for quite a while. Villeneuve reportedly won’t begin the casting process in earnest until he wraps Dune: Part Three sometime next year. We’ll be patient, though—Villeneuve’s plans (and apparently Amazon’s as well) are measured in centuries.
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