Callum Turner, Jack Lowden and Josh O’Connor are among the actors thought to be taking part in final auditions to play James Bond, according to reports. Screen tests are said to be taking place this weekend, possibly as early as Friday, according to the Hollywood Reporter, with between three and five actors understood to have reached the last stages of the process.

Screen tests include multiple components

The finalists are said to be taking part in auditions with three components — stunts, camera presence and dialogue. Deadline reported the screen tests had been due to take place in early October but had been delayed by scheduling conflicts, while Variety said Turner and Lowden ‘appear to be in the mix’ to replace Daniel Craig.

British actors Aaron Taylor-Johnson and James Norton were previously connected to the role, while Irish actor Paul Mescal’s name had also been thrown into the mix. Other actors now appear to be in the frame, but reports on the current casting situation vary. Variety suggested Slow Horses star Lowden may now be edging ahead, while Masters of the Air star Turner was speculated about earlier this year.

Casting process remains under way

Sources told Deadline that at least four final screen test offers have been made, and while unconfirmed, ‘three of the four expected to test are Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O’Connor’. O’Connor is best known for playing Prince Charles in The Crown and for starring in 2025’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, with Craig.

Jack O’Connell had been thought to be in the mix, but sources said this may no longer be the case, while Euphoria and Wuthering Heights star Jacob Elordi is not thought to be testing. Other stars who were previously linked with the role include The King’s Man star Harris Dickinson and SAS: Rogue Heroes’ Jack Barton.

Deadline said: ‘Even with the tests wrapping next week, there is no timeline for when a final decision will be made.’ Amazon MGM Studios, who now control the Bond franchise, announced in May that the casting process was under way but had no further comment at the time.

Future of Bond franchise

In August, Amy Pascal, one of the next film’s producers, told Deadline the ‘end of the year is a good bet’ for possible news on who would be playing Bond. ‘We are being really, really methodical,’ she said. ‘Having worked with Barbara Broccoli at the studio, I mean, Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow. And it’s got to be something really different that is a stirring and exciting and different.’

The BBC’s Lizo Mzimba reported in September that ‘for a series where the stakes are so high, no expense is spared in ensuring that the film team know exactly how each auditionee will come across on screen.’ He added: ‘As the 007 team themselves have explained in the past: ‘Bond screen tests are elaborate affairs involving hair and make-up, costumes, sets, and other actors’.’

Only six actors have ever played novelist Ian Fleming’s British Secret Service agent 007 in the official film series — Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. The last announcement of a new Bond was in 2005 with Craig, who last starred in the role in 2021’s No Time to Die, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.