Will Henry Cavill be the next James Bond? Rumours explored as ex-Superman star's filming schedule revealed

I’ve been writing news articles about the “next James Bond” for the better part of 12 months now, and in that time there have been so many actors linked with the role.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson apparently had talks with Amazon executives, and was even rumoured to have been presented with a contract; then it was time for the bookies’ revolving door of favourites, from Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey to Paul Mescal when Gladiators was released in cinemas. In the past couple of weeks, it has been actors like Harris Dickinson and Joe Alywn who have been the favourites.

More recently, we’ve had actors dismissing rumours linking them with the franchise, with stars like James Norton describing the speculation as “weird and bemusing” as he accused the media of clickbait.

All this time, Amazon MGM Studios has remained almost silent on the matter. The digital giants now have full creative control over the 007 franchise, with many fans wondering if this means Bond will next appear in a TV series on Amazon Prime, rather than on the big screen (where he belongs).

Now, the rumours are starting to circle back to where they were when Daniel Craig left the franchise nearly four years ago, with his final Bond movie No Time To Die released back in 2021. Back then, all signs pointed towards Henry Cavill taking the role.

It made a lot of sense, too. Cavill has proven himself as an action star in films like Mission: Impossible and the Justice League, but has also been able to show his gruff side in Netflix series The Witcher.

But some fans are concerned that Cavill is too well-known to play Bond; in the same way that you wouldn’t cast Jason Statham in the role, 007 has always been played by a lesser-known actor, with the franchise being what he ends up most famous for.

It’s for this precise reason why actors like Norton and Mescal are more popular among the bookmakers - even if Cavill is the preferred choice of the British public. But would his filming schedule even allow him to take the part?

A quick glance at his upcoming projects shows Cavill is already working on action-thriller In The Grey (directed by Shane Richie), a Highlander reboot and series three of Enola Holmes.

He is also the star and executive producer on the upcoming Warhammer 40k TV series, a project that Cavill is particularly attached to given Warhammer is his hobby off-camera. If it takes off, this could become his sole project for the next few years.

But let’s hypothesise here - if Amazon have only just taken creative control of Bond, there is likely no plan in place for either a new movie or TV series. A script needs to be written before actors can audition for the part, which could take a least a year or two.

After that, filming can finally get underway, by which point Cavill’s slate of upcoming projects might look far more manageable. But he would also be in his mid-40s by this point, far past what Amazon have said they are looking for in their new 007.