Callum Turner reportedly became the first actor to screen test for James Bond on Friday, arriving at Bray Studios in Berkshire as the search for Daniel Craig’s successor reaches its final stage.
The 36-year-old Fantastic Beasts star has long been a frontrunner, but the reported shortlist has shifted. Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden and The Crown and Challengers star Josh O’Connor, both also 36, are testing across Saturday and Sunday. Updated reports say Jacob Elordi and Jack O’Connell aren’t testing.
Reports suggest Lowden may be edging ahead, and bookmakers have him as the clear favorite ahead of Turner and O’Connor. His odds imply a chance of roughly 60% or more. That’s a betting-market estimate, and the casting decision remains unannounced.
Gary Oldman, Lowden’s Slow Horses co-star, has publicly suggested that Lowden was shortlisted and that a choice had already been made. Lowden’s wife, Saoirse Ronan, has described the Bond buzz as “not really a subject that’s coming up in our house.”
Between 3 and 5 actors are reportedly in the final round. At least 4 invitations to test were reportedly sent out, with 1 name still unidentified. The auditions assess stunt work, how the actors come across on camera and their delivery of dialogue.
Scheduling conflicts pushed the tests back from earlier in October. The reported format recalls the Casino Royale auditions roughly 20 years ago, the last major Bond screen-test round. Those involved full hair and makeup, a camera crew and a proper set, with Henry Cavill among the contenders before Craig got the role.
Amazon MGM owns the studio where the candidates are testing. It bought Bray Film Studios in 2024 and has been expanding the site at Water Oakley in Berkshire, on the Thames, about 26 miles from central London.
Bray was Hammer Horror’s home, hosting Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein and The Mummy. Its history also includes The Rocky Horror Picture Show and miniature work for Ridley Scott’s Alien.
Turner has been guarded about the possibility himself. Asked about Bond at the Berlinale earlier this year, he said: “It’s very early for that question. I’m not going to comment on it.”
Raised on a Chelsea council estate by a single mother who worked as a club promoter, he played semi-professional football and modeled before moving into acting. His credits include a BAFTA-nominated lead performance in The Capture and Major “Bucky” Egan in Masters of the Air.
He married Dua Lipa earlier this year, adding a possible Bond-theme connection to the speculation around his casting. She said in 2018 that she’d love to sing a Bond theme, though that interest is separate from any actual assignment.
The next film’s team includes producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman, Dune director Denis Villeneuve and Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight. Casting director Nina Gold has worked on both The Crown and Slow Horses.
Pascal said in August that casting by the end of the year was “a good bet,” which would let Amazon MGM Studios begin filming in 2027. It’ll be the first official Bond film since No Time to Die in 2021. Amazon MGM now has full creative control of the franchise after Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson stepped back.
Only 6 actors have played Ian Fleming’s 007 in the official series: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Craig.
A source described the Friday-to-Sunday testing window this way: “The next three days are going to be very interesting indeed.”