James Norton breaks silence over being a candidate for the next James Bond

Following the release of Kraven The Hunter, lead star Aaron Taylor-Johnson - considered by many to be the favourite to become 007 - was asked in multiple interviews about whether he would soon be playing James Bond. He repeatedly skirted around the question, leaving fans speculating on every platform imaginable.

Now, another British actor has been asked a similar question, but was a bit more direct with his response.

It comes following the departure of Daniel Craig after five films, with 2021’s No Time To Die being his swansong outing. Since then, there has been little concrete evidence about who might replace him, with Amazon MGM Studios bosses urging fans to be “patient” while they figure out which direction to take the franchise in.

Star of Happy Valley, and more recently ITV drama Playing Nice, James Norton has made quite a name for himself on Britain’s small screens. When asked in 2023 if he’d met with James Bond producers, he emphatically refuted these rumours.

But more recently Norton, 39, has begun to change his tune, as a recent interview with Variety exposed. He said: “It’s lots of quite fun and bemusing media coverage.”

More interestingly, he did not deny the rumours as he did previously - perhaps indicating that something may have changed in the past few months.

Norton has also been speaking about how men need to stand up and be counted in a ‘post-MeToo’ world, championing the rights and equalities of women. In an interview with Radio Times he said: “What interested me was the question of what it is to be a modern man, post-MeToo, with the attempt to rebalance the patriarchal crimes of the past,” he said.

“With a lot of men, there’s a misconception that what we should be doing is making space, stepping back and almost becoming passive.”