Jack Lowden’s name has been coming up more often, with rumors that he is in the running for James Bond. Now, he has landed one of his biggest roles yet: Mr. Darcy in Netflix’s new Pride and Prejudice miniseries, set to premiere in early December.
In an interview with GQ Magazine, Lowden opened up about his role as Darcy, as well as his other projects, such as Apple TV’s hit show Slow Horses.
For screenwriter Dolly Alderton and director Euros Lyn, there was no question that Lowden was their first choice for Darcy in their adaptation of the Jane Austen classic. Alderton said, “He had been at the top of our list for a long time when we were scripting, long before we started casting.”
“We always knew that Darcy is a difficult part to play – he is unknowable to the audience as well as Elizabeth for a large chunk of the story, and there are layers of vulnerability and complexity that he has to play underneath his cold and rude facade,” she explained.
Emma Corrin, who signed on as Elizabeth Bennet, said, “Jack Lowden was our dream Darcy.”
It took more time and careful thought for Lowden to agree. “It’s very precious to a lot of people, Jane Austen, so it made me think about it for a bit,” the Slow Horses actor said. “I don’t buy myself in 99 percent of the roles I do, but if other people do, I get a kick out of that.” In the end, he took the job.
Though many will only accept the Mr. Darcy they grew up with, like Colin Firth or Matthew Macfadyen in more recent years, Alderton has spoken highly of Lowden’s performance. “Jack brought the humour to Darcy’s awkwardness, which surprised me.” Corrin defined “his funny bones” as the difference between their versions of the beloved characters and past iterations.
“I found him very shy. And I can relate to that. There’s a lot of him in the book, and in the previous adaptations, that’s just him standing in rooms, and I loved that. He’s always a bit over there; he’d rather not be there.” Lowden said of the character.
As for the role of James Bond, that is still up in the air for the moment. Lowden explained to the interviewer that although Gary Oldman’s stamp of approval was kind, he won’t “add to the noise.”
“It’s very nice, and Gary’s a sweetheart – it’s particularly lovely, coming from someone like him. But I don’t really listen to it.” Oldman recently told Canada Global that he saw Lowden as James Bond.
After joining a show like Slow Horses, the James Bond comparisons were natural. Lowden plays River Cartwright on the Apple TV show, a naive MI5 agent. Running around, scaling buildings, evading gunfire, and taking down enemies, as Cartwright does, feels very James Bond, so it was expected.
He continues, “As a young male actor, generally, the minute you’re not playing a zany artist type, the minute you’re in a suit, people fling it at you.”
Regardless of whether Lowden is cast as Bond, he has established himself as a leading man and is sure to go nowhere soon.
Pride and Prejudice will premiere on Netflix on December 3, 2026.
