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James Bond shortlist includes: Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner and Harris Dickinson

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Amazon is trying to get serious with MGM Studios’ James Bond. Last year, Jeff Bezos reportedly spent $1 billion to secure the 007 IP without any strings attached. Since then, the Amazon team has been slowly trying to make the first post-Broccoli-family James Bond film. There is a director attached to them (Denis Villeneuve), but as far as I know, he neither has a script nor does he have a new James Bond in mind. Well, Deadline has a big update on how the casting situation is going. August will be a big month where they will narrow down the 007 shortlist. So far, the shortlist already includes Jacob Elordi and Callum Turner, who we already knew about. But this is the first I’m hearing about Harris Dickinson being seriously involved in the mix?

Fans of the James Bond franchise are getting closer to finding out who will play the iconic spy in future installments. Sources tell Deadline that producer and director Denis Villeneuve has begun notifying the talents who have participated in the next round of auditions, which will take place later this summer. Villeneuve is directly calling out talent and while Deadline has not been able to confirm any names at this time, sources say auditions are scheduled to take place in August. Amazon MGM Studios, which is distributing and producing the picture, had no comment.

As far as how many actors will test in August, while one source says they expect producers to cast a wide net, the exact number of actors is unknown, with some sources stating between 5-7 while others said in the teens.

General meetings with talent have been taking place since the spring of 2025 when Amy Pascal and David Heyman were chosen as producers. Nina Gould, who closed a deal to be the casting director on the film in April, has been meeting with actors over the past several weeks, but sources say those meetings were for lesser known names, to see if anyone should be added to the list of lead actors expected to get a call for the next round.

With those auditions concluding, insiders say Villeneuve and producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman began contacting the actors last week to inform them about the August auditions. Actors like Harris Dickinson, Callum Turner and Jacob Elordi fit the prototype of who the producers are keeping an eye on for the next round of auditions, but again no names have been confirmed at this time.

Although it still seems like we’re far from finding out who will be playing the role of 007, it makes sense for the studio to keep their actor in place until the end of the year so that production can begin sometime in 2027.

Since acquiring full creative control of the franchise this year, Amazon MGM has gone all-in on the search for behind-the-scenes talent to oversee the development of this next picture in the series. Pascal and Heyman were brought on first, and after meeting with several directors the studio chose Villeneuve to direct. The same steps were taken last summer before Steven Knight was hired to write the script, and since then, the focus has been on getting the story in place before auditioning actors to play the roles.

(by deadline)

Although I have little confidence in it given Amazon’s involvement, I will give them credit for really taking their time, developing the script, hiring competent and knowledgeable people, and refusing to rush things. It seems that some people learned what not to do by watching the bad Disney movies after George Lucas’ Star Wars films. We will see. As far as the Bond casting call goes… are they retaining any from the previous films? Ralph Fiennes would still be welcome as M, and I really liked Ben Whishaw as Q. Are they also being replaced? Hmm. I also find the inclusion of Harris Dickinson fascinating. I’m a big fan of his and I think he’s an underrated actor. Although that might be too realistic as a spy? I’m pretty sure he’s probably what a real field operative looks like – able to mingle with a bit of a sleazy/seductive, Jolie-led quality. All this to say, he would be an interesting choice, but I doubt he’ll be cast.

Photos Avalon Red, courtesy of Backgrid.




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