The movie world was shaken (but not stirred) following today’s news that Josh O’Connor is one of Amazon MGM’s top choices to play James Bond, along with long-time bookmakers’ favorites Jack Lowden and Callum Turner.
Deadline’s exclusive report on Thursday revealed that the trio, alongside an unnamed fourth actor, are set to participate in imminent screen tests for the role of 007, putting O’Connor, an award-winning actor and star in his own right, in a whole new spotlight.
Josh O’Connor Led One of Netflix’s Biggest-Ever Shows
Josh O’Connor, who first rose to prominence on the British TV series The Durrells and later Francis Lee’s acclaimed gay romance indie God’s Own Country, would become a star in his own right when he was cast as the then-Prince Charles in Seasons 3 and 4 of the Netflix drama series The Crown, one of the streaming giant’s flagship shows.
O’Connor portrayed a young Charles, navigating early adulthood after leaving school, his Investiture as the Prince of Wales, and his first marriage to Lady Diana Spencer (later Diana, Princess of Wales). More controversially, the actor’s role in The Crown also involved the future King’s infidelities with his future second wife, Camilla Parker Bowles (later Queen Camilla), in addition to his tumultuous relationship with the late Diana.
For his work, O’Connor won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, later appearing in critically lauded films such as Emma (2020), La chimera (2023), and Challengers (2024), alongside Zendaya and Mike Faist. Interestingly, Emma, his first major film role following The Crown, also features one of his main competitors for Bond, Callum Turner.
More recently, O’Connor played the lead role as Father Jud Duplenticy in Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery with Daniel Craig, in addition to Steven Spielberg’s alien epic Disclosure Day, alongside Emily Blunt. If his resume is anything to go by, the English actor is certainly a rising star on a trajectory fit for a budding Bond.
