Ian Fleming’s James Bond is set for a cinematic revival with director Denis Villeneuve’s in-the-works feature film, currently known colloquially as Bond 26. Casting for the new 007 is currently underway, with a half-dozen leading men in contention to succeed actor Daniel Craig, who retired as Bond in 2021’s No Time To Die after starring in five franchise films.
Before the new big-screen Bond arrives in movie theaters, there’s another brand-new Bond actor as of Thursday, Oct. 29, thanks to the release of Young Bond: SilverFin, with actor Isaac Rouse in the lead role.
Bond returns to his SilverFin era
James Bond fans know that Ian Fleming’s book series predates the film franchise. The author published 10 James Bond novels and short story collections before the first film adaptation, Dr. No, arrived in movie theaters. After Fleming’s death in 1964, other writers, including John Gardner, Raymond Benson, and Sebastian Faulks, kept Bond’s story going. In 2005, author Charlie Higson kicked off a new era for 007: Young Bond.
Young Bond’s first adventure arrived in 2005 with Higson’s novel SilverFin, which explored James Bond’s early life at Eton College, where the future spy makes “a terrifying discovery that threatens to unleash a new breed of warfare.” That novel has now been adapted into a full-cast audio drama, Young Bond: SilverFin, which its creators describe as Bond’s “first deadly adventure in the Scottish Highlands, where a sinister secret awaits beneath the waters of Loch Silverfin.”
Isaac Rouse (The Crown, Get Even) stars as James Bond in Young Bond: SilverFin, alongside Charlotte McBurney as Wilder Lawless, Miriam Margolyes, Tim McInnerny, Miranda Raison, Paterson Joseph, and William Hope. Charlie Higson himself also appears in the series. The SilverFin audio drama will consist of 16 half-hour episodes across two volumes that promise “action, intrigue and adventure, exploring the formative years of the boy destined to become the world’s most famous secret agent.”
Rouse has plenty of Bond material to work with in future productions. Higson wrote five Young Bond books (and a short story), and author Steve Cole took over the series with four more books.
Bond fans recently got to know another younger (though not “young”) version of the character with this year’s 007 First Light, which follows the legendary spy as he undergoes training and carries out missions to become a fully-fledged MI6 agent. Patrick Gibson portrayed James Bond in First Light.
James Bond fans looking for a new way to experience Ian Fleming’s venerable super spy can listen to Young Bond: SilverFin at the Big Finish website, which offers the first episode for free.
What’s next for James Bond?
The next James Bond film, the franchise’s 26th, will be written by Stephen Knight (Peaky Blinders, Eastern Promises) and directed by Denis Villeneuve (Dune, Sicario), with Nina Gold serving as casting director. Amazon MGM Studios has not announced who will inherit the license to kill from Daniel Craig, but recent reports say the studio has assembled a shortlist of potential Bonds — and it includes several of the most in-demand actors working today.
The list of new James Bond actor candidates reportedly includes:
- Jack Barton, who has appeared in Netflix’s Heartstopper and Steven Knight’s SAS: Rogue Heroes, and is reportedly the surprise favorite
- Jack Lowden, who currently stars as River Cartwright in Apple TV Plus’ spy thriller Slow Horses
- Callum Turner, who recently appeared in the World War II miniseries Masters of the Air
- Jacob Elordi, who broke out with Netflix’s The Kissing Booth, and has since moved into more dramatic work with Euphoria, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, and Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars
- Paul Mescal, who earned an Academy Award nomination for Aftersun and starred as Lucius in Gladiator II and as William Shakespeare in Hamnet
- Harris Dickinson, who has appeared in Triangle of Sadness, The Iron Claw, and Babygirl
News of Bond’s official silver screen recasting is expected soon.
