Spider-Man himself is rumored to be in the running for Daniel Kaluuya, would prefer a Bond villain role.
The most recent name to be thrown around for Bond 26’s new version of 007 is Tom Holland, the Marvel star who has played Spider-Man in a trio of solo blockbusters as well as other MCU installments. Holland is free to pursue the role and might already be in the running for the part, although nothing official has been announced by the actor or the franchise’s producers. However, the question of the actor’s age could prove problematic for Tom Holland’s James Bond chances.
The Spider-Man star currently has 40/1 odds of receiving the part, according to bookmakers in August 2022, but the massive age disparity between Holland and the most recent James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, could make this casting choice tricky for the series to pull off. James Bond has changed faces many times over the years but, while Sean Connery was a little younger and Roger Moore was a little older, most of the actors who have played the role have been nearing 40. At 26 years old, Tom Holland is far younger than the average James Bond actor, which has been around 38.
Tom Holland Is Too Young For 007 (For Now)
At 29 years old, George Lazenby was the youngest first-time James Bond actor in the history of the franchise when he starred in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. That Kingsman movies and Stormbreaker didn’t exist back then, whereas Holland is arriving at a time when “young James Bond” is its own separate genre.
Tom Holland would be a markedly younger James Bond and, while the 007 franchise could address this in Bond 26, the series already needs to get viewers on board with a new actor and doesn’t need the added challenge of radically re-imagining basic details of 007’s character. While Bond 26 certainly shouldn’t be as cheesy as Pierce Brosnan’s final Bond movie, Die Another Day, the movie should be a lighter, funnier take on the franchise than Daniel Craig’s anguished 007 movies. Thus, unless Bond 26’s production is delayed by at least three years, it would be tricky for Spider-Man star Tom Holland to be seen as anything other than a bizarrely young James Bond, meaning the already-lighter movie could easily become too comedic to take seriously.
