We’re now at half a decade since Daniel Craig was exploded as James Bond in No Time to Die, and we’re somehow still none the wiser about who will inherit the tuxedo, bloodstains not included. This is the first time the role has needed to be recast in more than two decades, and plenty has changed since Craig was announced as Pierce Brosnan’s successor in 2005. Amazon MGM Studios now has creative control over the franchise, a new movie is finally starting to take shape, and seemingly every British actor between the ages of 25 and 45 has been linked with 007 at some point. Well, one of them isn’t up for it.
Theo James, who has regularly appeared among the frontrunners to become the next James Bond, has effectively ruled himself out of contention. Speaking with British GQ, The Gentlemen and The White Lotus star pointed to his age as one reason he doesn’t see himself taking over from Craig. “I’m definitely too old now, for one.”
That’s an interesting assessment given that James is 41 years old, while Craig was 38 when Casino Royale arrived in theaters, and Brosnan was actually older than James is now when GoldenEye introduced his version of 007 at 42. But maybe Amazon just wants someone who can spend a decade playing the role, similar to Craig’s five-film, 15-year run. Starting at 41 could potentially leave James playing Bond into his 50s.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
Theo James Doesn’t Want Everything That Comes With James Bond
But it’s not just age that James is bothered by. He, quite understandly, is entirely uninterested in the fame that comes with the role. “Imagine, suddenly, you and I cannot walk down the street,” James said, particularly highlighting the effect that level of attention could have on his children. “None of that, to me, is worth it.”
James acknowledged that being offered an enormous, career-altering role can be “very intoxicating,” but questioned whether the consequences would ultimately justify accepting it. And when it comes to Bond, he feels like it’s a point of no return.
“At the time, it’s very intoxicating, being offered some huge, sexy part that would change your life forever. But it really wouldn’t ultimately be worth it. That would be an example of a place you could never come back from.”
There is currently no official date for the next James Bond movie.
