As casting continues for the next James Bond movie, a report suggests that British actor Jack Barton is the current favourite to play the new 007. After what feels like years of James Bond rumours with the name Jacob Elordi attached to them, along comes a new report which suggests there’s a new front-runner for ... James Bond 26 | British actor Jack Barton said to lead the pack of 007 hopefuls
As casting continues for the next James Bond movie, a report suggests that British actor Jack Barton is the current favourite to play the new 007.
After what feels like years of James Bond rumours with the name Jacob Elordi attached to them, along comes a new report which suggests there’s a new front-runner for the 007 role.
It’s British actor Jack Barton. A young whippersnapper who only graduated in 2018 (from the fancy Oxford School of Drama, no less), he’s currently best known for his TV work.
Barton’s credits include Grantchester, a 2022 small-screen adaptation of War Of The Worlds, Netflix series Heartstopper, and BBC period drama SAS: Rogue Heroes. He also made a brief appearance in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, and did some voice work on the sprawling action RPG, Elden Ring (thank you, Wikipedia).
According to a report at Page Six, Barton has now “emerged from the pack” of actors who could play James Bond – at least for now.
The outlet’s sources state that screen tests will begin in September, with a shortlist of potential Bonds already drawn up. Besides Jack Barton, that list is said to comprise:
Jack Lowden, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal and Harris Dickinson.
Those are, you may have noticed, more recognisable names than Jack Barton – something that may or may not work in the actor’s favour. There was a story last year which suggested that Amazon MGM was keen to have a ‘fresh face’ in the 007 role – in which case, Barton fits the bill. But there may also be the theory that a better-known heart-throb like Elordi could endear the ageing franchise to a younger audience.
There’s something else that could work in Barton’s favour however – and an alert here that this is all pure speculation for now.
Barton starred as British army officer John Eliot Tonkin in the above-mentioned SAS: Rogue Heroes, which is about the creation of the Special Air Service commando unit in World War II. The series was written and created by Steven Knight, who’s officially writing the next James Bond movie.
It’s been reported for a while that Knight’s script will be an origin story of some sort, exploring Bond’s pre-MI6 years as a Commander in the Royal Navy.
But in 2026, Steven Knight did an interview with Screen Daily, in which he suggested that Bond’s backstory might be being shifted somewhat – from the navy to the SAS.
In that interview, Knight said that he’d been researching into “the SAS and even more secret outfits” as he prepared the Bond screenplay.
“I am talking to them about what they do every day,” he said. “It’s all real. “[Bond creator Ian Fleming]… was living that life. In the war, he was doing those things. He knew people doing that stuff, going out there and killing people. He was such a great writer. To be a writer, you have got to know about people.”
The interview has since been deleted from Screen Daily’s website – perhaps because it was too revealing – but the quotes are still up at MI6-HQ.
Accepting that a screenwriter isn’t going to have much sway over casting (Nina Gold is Bond 26’s casting director), it could still be that Barton’s previous role in an SAS drama could provide a showcase for his ability to play an ex-commando incarnation of Bond.
More rumours are sure to spill out as those screen tests take place. We’ll keep you posted.
