Stroud-based actor Josh O’Connor is reportedly in contention to take over one of cinema’s most iconic roles, becoming the next James Bond.
O’Connor is among the actors linked with the coveted 007 role, alongside Callum Turner and Jack Lowden, as the search for Daniel Craig’s successor reportedly enters its final stages.
The 35-year-old actor has built an impressive career across television, theatre and film, earning international recognition for his portrayal of Prince Charles in Netflix’s hit royal drama The Crown.
His performance in the third and fourth seasons of the series earned him a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 2021.
Born in Southampton in 1990 and raised in Cheltenham, O’Connor trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School before establishing himself as one of Britain’s most acclaimed acting talents.
His breakthrough came in 2017 with God’s Own Country, in which he played a young Yorkshire sheep farmer who develops a relationship with a Romanian migrant worker. His performance won him the British Independent Film Award for Best Actor.
Since then, O’Connor has taken on a diverse range of roles, including Mr Elton in the 2020 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma and the ambitious tennis player Patrick Zweig in the 2024 film Challengers, starring alongside Zendaya and Mike Faist.
He has also appeared in the acclaimed Italian film La Chimera and the art-heist drama The Mastermind.
More recently, he appeared alongside Daniel Craig in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, meaning he has already shared the screen with the actor who most recently portrayed 007.
O’Connor’s reported involvement in the Bond auditions comes as the franchise prepares for its first film since No Time to Die, which was released in 2021 and marked Craig’s fifth and final appearance as the secret agent.
The next instalment will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, best known for his work on Dune, with a screenplay written by Stroud-based writer Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders.
Neither Amazon MGM Studios nor the Bond production team has officially confirmed the reported shortlist or announced who will take on the role.
If selected, O’Connor would follow in the footsteps of Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Craig in playing the legendary British spy.