James Bond: What We Know So Far as Pattinson Joins 007 Race
Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult have reportedly joined the shortlist to play the next James Bond, according to sources who spoke to Hollywood trade publications. Auditions are under way, and Denis Villeneuve is directing the film.
Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult are the two previously unnamed contenders to play the next James Bond, according to multiple sources who confirmed the names to Hollywood trade publications over the weekend before November 9, 2026. Here is what we know so far.
The casting has dragged on. Now it has a more surprising shortlist.
Who is in the running
Auditions for the next Bond are under way. Earlier reports named Jack Lowden, Josh O'Connor and Callum Turner as the official contenders, plus a mysterious fourth actor nobody could identify.
The weekend reports changed that picture. Sources said the mystery fourth and fifth names were Pattinson and Hoult, which makes five actors in total.
Why Pattinson stands out
Sian Cain, writing in a column on the news, called Pattinson an actor who "injects a sense of the unpredictable into everything he does". She said his casting would make the long search feel exciting for the first time.
Pattinson is 40. Cain pointed to a run of deliberately varied roles, from The King and The Devil All the Time to Mickey 17, The Lighthouse and The Odyssey.
She also noted his history with big franchises: Batman, Twilight, Dune and Harry Potter. On his Bruce Wayne, she wrote that he plays a deeply traumatised man finding purpose as a vigilante rather than a playboy superhero. Pattinson once told GQ: "I mean, it's kind of such an insane thing to do: the only way I can live is to dress up as a bat."
A link to the director
Pattinson is the only one of the five actors to have already worked with the next Bond director, Denis Villeneuve. They collaborated on Dune III, according to Cain.
Cain was cautious about the outcome. She called it unlikely that Pattinson would be cast, and even less likely that he would get free rein with the role. His recent choices, she argued, point to spiky auteur films, and he tends to accept franchise work only when he can play what she called a little freak.
The weight of the role
The part has a reputation for leaving its leads drained. Sean Connery once said of Bond: "I'd like to kill him." Daniel Craig's fifth film was pulled out of him, Cain wrote, because Barbara Broccoli agreed to knock off his version of the character.
Craig then moved quickly into a string of oddball roles. Cain's view is that Bond is rarely an actor's most interesting part, but it is the one that leads the obituary.
No official announcement of a cast has been made. Auditions continue.
