We don’t know when the name of a new James Bond actor will be announced, but we know that day is coming. Several different names have been suggested in the months since Daniel Craig walked away. One that is achieving front-runner status currently is 2024 Oscar nominee Cillian Murphy and one of his Oppenheimer co-stars thinks he’d be perfect in the role.
Clay Bunker appeared in Oppenheimer and having both met Cillain Murphy in person and seen him on screen thinks the actor is uniquely suited to play James Bond. While he says Murphy is an incredibly nice guy, he has the ability to play much darker characters, and Ian Fleming’s Bond has some darkness in him. Bunker told The Sun…
He would fare beautifully. It's funny because Cillian is the nicest human but he has that dark side and there's a darkness to Bond ... We forget that sometimes Bond is like the character Fleming created – a pretty dark character. He just happens to be on the side that we call good. Cillian has that ability to tap into that. We've seen that in something like Peaky Blinders, even in Batman when he is playing Scarecrow – the myriad of other films he's done.
It's true that Fleming’s original Bond isn’t exactly the nicest guy. While the early film portrayal of Bond by Sean Connery is much lighter in tone, we would see elements of the more serious Bond in the performances of Geroge Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, and Daniel Craig.
Murphy could certainly follow in those footsteps, but part of the question we don’t yet have an answer to is what sort of Bond are they looking for. We could see another serious James Bond, following Craig’s success in the role, but we could just as easily see a decision toward a different sort of take. And so perhaps a funnier Bond could be in order.
Several names have been mentioned as potential new James Bond actors. Henry Cavill, who nearly got the role before losing it to Craig last time around, is still open to playing it now. Jamie Dornan has been mentioned as a possible Bond. At one point it was claimed Aaron Taylor-Johnson already had the job, as he's a popular choice online. Sam Heughan has been actively campaigning to play Bond when others are trying to downplay the possibility, seemingly afraid that talking about it reduces the chances of it happening.
Numerous major names have been suggested, and that leaves out all the possible future Bonds that we don’t know because they are currently unknown actors. While casting an unknown Bond, seems like a bit of a long shot, it hasn't been discounted as a possibility.
Cillian Murphy wouldn’t be a bad choice, though many of the names that have been suggested are capable of being great in the role. One imagines nobody wants to wait too long to make another James Bond movie, so we certainly could get an official casting reveal sometime this year. While we're waiting maybe sit and watch all the James Bond movies in order.
