Gary Oldman Says Amazon Has Already Chosen the Next 007

Gary Oldman says the next James Bond is already picked, but he admits he does not know who. Here is what Amazon MGM has said. Gary Oldman said two things about the next James Bond on Canada's The Morning Show, and only the first one traveled. 'They have picked him,' he said. 'They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet.' Then, in the same breath, came the part that undoes it. 'So my fingers are crossed for Jack.' A man who knows the answer does not cross his fingers about it. Oldman prefaced the whole thing by noting that his Slow Horses co-star Jack Lowden had been rumored onto the shortlist, which means his premise was gossip and his conclusion was certainty, with nothing new in between. What he actually described is a belief that Amazon MGM has landed somewhere, attached to a cheerful admission that he cannot tell you where. Sir Gary Oldman in 'Slow Horses,' premiering September 16, 2026 on Apple TV. What Oldman Is Actually Positioned to Know Oldman shares a screen with Lowden every season on Slow Horses, whose sixth run arrives on Apple TV on September 16. That makes him a colleague and, plainly, a fan. It does not put him in the room. Casting sits with producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman, with director Denis Villeneuve, and with an Amazon MGM leadership team that has run this search like a state secret. None of those people brief the lead of an unrelated Apple series. Richard Osman hit the same wall in August and handled it more carefully. On The Rest Is Entertainment he said someone had told him 'for definite' who the new Bond is, then noted that this had happened to him before and that Lowden was 'definitely being strongly considered' rather than chosen. That is what honest secondhand knowledge sounds like. Oldman kept the confidence and dropped the caveat, which is how a hedge becomes a headline. What Amazon MGM Has Actually Put on the Record Almost nothing, and the 'almost' is doing real work. Courtenay Valenti, the studio's head of film, took the CinemaCon stage in Las Vegas in April and addressed the search head on. 'Please know that we're taking the time to do this with care and deep respect,' she said, which in April meant the job was open and nobody was being hurried. Her CinemaCon remarks remain the most official statement anyone has on 007 casting. The crew, by contrast, is confirmed and dated. Villeneuve was announced as director on June 25, 2025. Steven Knight, who created Peaky Blinders, was set as screenwriter on July 31, 2025. Pascal and Heyman were named producers that March. What the studio has never announced is an actor, a title, a release date, or a start of principal photography. A 2027 shoot has been reported, and a report is not a call sheet. Olivia Cooke and Jack Lowden in 'Slow Horses,' premiering September 16, 2026 on Apple TV. Why the 007 Guessing Game Keeps Regenerating Matt Belloni put a timestamp on this exact question. Writing in Puck on September 3, four days before Oldman's interview aired, he called the circulating contender lists 'bogus' and reported that screen tests for Villeneuve would not begin until later in the fall, so anyone claiming to know who Bond is right now does not. Tests are the mechanism by which a choice gets made. If they have not happened, there is no choice yet for Oldman to have heard about. The competing version ran in Page Six on August 26, naming Jack Barton, Lowden, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal and Harris Dickinson as contenders, with tests supposedly set for early September. Neither list traces back to the studio, because the studio does not comment, and that silence is the engine. An empty lead role on a franchise this size turns every press day into a Bond press day, which is how the next James Bond keeps generating news without generating facts. Saoirse Ronan, who is married to Lowden, spent August making her own Bond pitch to Empire, saying she was 'dead serious' about playing a young female villain. I have watched this loop run since 2005, and it has never once been closed by an actor on a morning show. The Signal Worth Watching Instead of the Next Quote When the next James Bond is real, it will not leak out through a co-star. The last time this job changed hands, Eon put Daniel Craig on a Royal Marines boat, ran him up the Thames to HMS President and had the press waiting on the dock, on October 14, 2005. Eon no longer steers the franchise, but Amazon MGM has committed a billion dollars a year to theatrical releases, and a studio spending at that level does not let its biggest hire in two decades slip out during a morning talk show. Track the deal, not the soundbite. Screen tests are the point where an actor's agents start negotiating a multi-picture contract, and contracts are what reach Deadline and Variety through agencies rather than through friendly co-stars. A trade story naming a test date, a deal term or a picture commitment would be the first piece of evidence in this cycle sourced to someone with an actual reason to know. Everything up to that point is people being asked a question they are not in a position to answer. Oldman has a season to sell and a co-star he obviously adores, and the next James Bond will be announced when Amazon MGM decides to announce him. On September 16 he goes back to being Jackson Lamb, and the role is exactly as filled as it was on September 7.