In a surprise few saw coming, Robert Pattinson has emerged as a contender for 007. The actor, 40, is among those who have screen tested for the role of James Bond, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, joining hopefuls Callum Turner, Jack Lowden and Josh O’Connor.
Conventional wisdom has been that the next man to get the license to kill would not be a globally recognized star like Pattinson, one of the biggest actors of his age cohort, and already the face of DC Studios’ Batman franchise. The screen tests are said to have occurred the weekend of Oct. 24. THR previously reported that four, possibly five actors were in the mix but only three names surfaced at the time.
Another name now surfacing as one of the Bond mystery men is Nicholas Hoult, a runnerup to Pattinson for Batman years ago.
Pattinson is a favorite of auteurs from Robert Eggers and the Safdie brothers to Christopher Nolan, whose 2020 spy movie Tenet might feel like a Bond audition in hindsight. And more importantly, he worked with Bond director Denis Villeneuve on the upcoming Dune: Part 3, which bows Dec. 18 and is said to have gone well for the two men.
The actor is in the midst of the biggest year of his career, with a key role in Nolan’s The Odyssey and as the co-lead of A24 hit The Drama and anchoring the well-reguarded movie Primetime, also from A24. He’s currently filming The Batman Part II in London, where screen tests have been taking place.
Amazon had no comment on the testing.
While conventional wisdom goes against a world famous Bond, these are unprecedented times in the franchise. It is the first Bond movie made under the control of Amazon, which bought out the creative rights from the Broccoli family in February 2025. And producing are Spider-Man‘s Amy Pascal and David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter movies. A young Pattinson broke out with a tragic role in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, before gaining global fame a few years later in Twilight.
The Bond casting comes a little over 20 years after Daniel Craig was set as the next James Bond back in October 2005. He retired from the role after five films with 2021’s No Time to Die, his tenure including the franchise’s first and only $1 billion hit, the 2012 feature Skyfall.
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