After officially taking creative control of the 007 franchise, Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos is taking pitches for who should play the next James Bond.
The billionaire asked his 4.3 million Instagram followers Thursday morning whom they would pick to take on the coveted role after Daniel Craig, who capped off his 15-year run as the Ian Fleming-created character in 2021’s “No Time to Die.” His post received countless comments and suggestions, including “Man of Steel” actor Henry Cavill and “Rebel Ridge” star Aaron Pierre.
Bezos’ comment came the same morning it was announced that longtime Bond film producers and famously unbending franchise stewards Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson formed a new joint venture with Amazon MGM Studios to house the Bond IP rights. As part of the deal, Broccoli and Wilson agreed to cede creative control of the franchise to Amazon.
The shift marks the first time since Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman originally purchased the rights to Fleming’s Bond novels in 1961 that a member of the Broccoli family will not hold the creative reins of the film series, which began over 60 years ago with 1962’s “Dr. No.”
It has been three years since Amazon acquired the distribution rights to the Bond films when it bought MGM in 2022 and four years since Craig formally exited the spy franchise. In his wake, the “Knives Out” actor left behind big shoes for his replacement to fill. Multiple names have been rumored and proposed online to take over the role in the years since, including “Kraven the Hunter” star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, “Gladiator 2” star Paul Mescal and “Challengers” star Josh O’Connor, just to name a few.
Regardless, whoever plays Bond next will join the likes of Craig, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton on the short list of actors who have portrayed the character.
There were rumors of disagreements between Broccoli, Wilson and Amazon over which direction to take the franchise that may or may not have contributed to the recent dry spell of Bond news. Whether those rumblings were accurate does not matter much now, though, since while Broccoli and Wilson remain co-owners of the franchise, Amazon now has complete control of it.
In a statement Thursday, Broccoli said that after dedicating her life to “maintaining and building upon the extraordinary legacy that was handed to Michael and me by our father,” she felt it was time to “focus on my other projects,” while Wilson revealed that he is similarly stepping back from the world of Bond to “focus on art and charitable projects.” The latter added, “It is time for our trusted partner, Amazon MGM Studios, to lead James Bond into the future.”
