Amazon founder Jeff Bezos polled his 6.8 million X followers, asking them who they thought should play the next James Bond role. While responses varied, there was an overwhelming consensus on who they preferred.
His question came just after it was announced that Amazon MGM Studios would take creative control of the long-running film franchise. Bezos’ followers mostly agreed that the part should go to Henry Cavill, a 41-year-old British actor.
Who’d you pick as the next Bond? pic.twitter.com/u7nBaRROlf
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) February 20, 2025
He’s best known for his portrayal of Charles Brandon in Showtime’s “The Tudors” (2007–2010) and for playing Superman in the DC Extended Universe (2013–2023). Cavill also appeared in the Netflix fantasy series “The Witcher” (2019–2023) and played Sherlock Holmes in the Netflix film “Enola Holmes” (2020) and the 2022 sequel.
Other names that came up in the comments included Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, and Taron Egerton.
The role was last played by Daniel Craig, who retired from the franchise after “No Time To Die” in 2021. There has been a lot of speculation about who would be the next Agent 007, but now, with Amazon leading the charge, anything can happen.
Longtime producers and custodians of the franchise, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced on Thursday that they would give creative control entirely to Amazon going forward. Amazon purchased MGM for $8.5 billion in 2022 and, in doing so, acquired the rights to distribute all “James Bond” projects. But prior to now, Wilson and Broccoli had maintained creative control.
Fans have been anxiously awaiting the announcement of the next Bond actor and film. Broccoli formerly mentioned that she believed the role should go to a British man, but other than that, had no firm requirements.
“I think [the next James Bond] will be a man because I don’t think a woman should play James Bond,” Broccoli said in 2021. “I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men’s roles.”
“I don’t think there are enough great roles for women, and it’s very important to me that we make movies for women about women,” she added. “He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race].”
Cavill auditioned for the role when he was 22 and hadn’t earned the name recognition that he has now. The actor lost out to Craig at the time. Later, he said he was open to the role while promoting his film “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.”
“I have no idea, all I’ve got to go off is the rumors,” Cavill said at the time. “The same information you have. Maybe I’m too old now, maybe I’m not, we’ll see. It’s up to Barbara Broccoli and Mike Wilson, but we’ll see what their plans are.”
The “too old” comment likely referenced Broccoli stating that Bond should be played by a man in his 30s since each actor takes on the role for ten years. But with Amazon in charge, that stipulation might no longer hold true.
