I see many are taking The Sun’s word that Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been cast as the next Bond. Yes, The Sun is a tabloid so let’s just wait and see what the trades say.
There’s been much speculation about Taylor-Johnson and it hasn’t really died down. No other actor has really had this much buzz in terms of Bond casting. You can read the Bond/Taylor-Johnson stories here, here, here, here and here.
Last year, a People report (via Esquire) had Taylor-Johnson neither confirming nor denying that he was the next Bond. In an interview, when asked about donning the 007 tuxedo, he tried to deflect the question (and only reinforced all the rumors):
It’s not really for me to say anything […] As I’ve already told you, I have to go by the beat of my own drum.
This was his answer. Taylor-Johnson could have easily just denied the rumors, but he didn’t— that’s when I realized the rumors might in fact be true.
Some reports suggested that Taylor-Johnson had a secret screen test with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli at Pinewood studios in November 2022, and it went so well that an announcement of his casting was supposed to be in the works for the summer.
Then the strike happened. There’s been no denial from Bond producer Barbara Broccoli as word keeps spreading throughout the film world.
Taylor-Johnson would be succeeding Daniel Craig who was Bond for 15 years until he got blown up to smithereens in “No Time to Die”. I had my doubts about Craig’s casting but he surprisingly delivered two of the best movies of this five+ decade franchise: “Casino Royale” and “Skyfall.” I never had high expectations for this franchise to begin with, but those two movies were aces.
Some of the other actors who had been rumored for Bond in the last year included Henry Cavill, Regé Jean-Page, Tom Hardy, James Norton and Chiwetel Ejiofor. I would have chosen Idris Elba, but last year he walked away from 'years of talks' with Broccoli.