The rumours have been dragging on for years. Unfortunately, the end moved a little further out of sight after the recent dramas surrounding Bond 25 lead to the shock dismissal of director Danny Boyle and the release date being moved back a year into 2020. Daniel Craig hasn’t even started filming his final outing as OO7, but a massive flurry of new bets just propelled one star into pole position. Although there has been no official annnouncements, this suggest something could be about to happen.
With relative unknown Cary Joji Fukunaga now in place as the director of Bond 25 and a new released date confirmed for February 14, 2020, the producers might finally be able to start looking to the future.
Many fans believe they should look no further than Game of Thrones and The Bodyguard star Richard Madden.
His odds have just been slashed again to evens, which basically predicts he is a certainty for the role.
Madden is now sitting pretty with odds of 4/5, followed by Tom Hiddleston at 9/4 and then Idris Elba on 5/1.
Ladbrokes released the latest figures and explained why they had cut the odds so low.
A spokesman said: “It’s not often we see someone odds-on to replace Daniel Craig, but a flurry of bets on Richard Madden means we’ve had to slash odds accordingly.”
Madden had already made a splash as the doomed Robb Stark in Game of Thrones but his portrayal of David Budd in the BBC series Bodyguard has made him a household name and huge favourite for the biggest role in cinema history.
Madden’s father recently revealed the stars hopes for the role: “I’m quite sure he does want that to be on his CV one day but he’s not making a song and dance about it… Richard doesn’t specifically say, ‘This is my goal.’”
Bogyguard writer Jed Mercurio also priased his leading man’s suitability (and likelihood) for the role: “He’s the genuine article, a real leading man. And I think this role has put him very much in the spotlight for bigger things.”
Bond 25 is out on February 14, 2020.