Jack Lowden awkwardly responds to James Bond rumours in first interview since ‘final screen test’ - The Independent
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Jack Lowden has addressed the persistent rumours that he’s in the running to be the next James Bond – as well as his Slow Horses co-star Gary Oldman’s 007-themed gaffe in September.
The 36-year-old Scottish actor has been linked with the highly coveted superspy role for months, with recent reports claiming that he, Callum Turner, Josh O’Connor and a mystery fourth actor were all officially screen-testing for the part.
Prior to the screen-test claims, the speculation around Lowden only grew when Oldman claimed in an interview in September that the Bond role had been cast – and that he was hoping Lowden gets it.
“It’s been rumoured that [Lowden is] on the shortlist,” Oldman said. “They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack.”
Oldman later walked back his comments, saying in another interview that there are “six people on a shortlist,” adding: “I heard a rumour that they’ve picked James Bond, but they haven’t announced it yet, which is their prerogative. So I do not know [who has got the part], but I’m hoping it’s Jack.”
In a new interview with GQ, Lowden addressed Oldman’s comments.
“On this… It’s all very flattering. It’s nice to be mentioned – for any role – and I’m just not really going to add to the noise,” he explained. “It’s very nice, and Gary’s a sweetheart – it’s particularly lovely, coming from someone like him. But I don’t really listen to it.”
Lowden then discussed what it means to be perpetually linked to a role like James Bond – as well as downplaying its significance.
“As a young male actor, generally, the minute you’re not playing a zany artist type, the minute you’re in a suit, people fling it at you,” he said.
Lowden has played a spy – albeit one of the more hapless variety – on Slow Horses since 2022, so it’s not an enormous leap to cast him as Bond.
Other names linked to the Bond role in recent months have included Jacob Elordi, Harris Dickinson, Nicholas Hoult and Jack O’Connell, but those four names are reportedly out of contention now.
Speaking to The Independent earlier this year about the process, retired casting director Debbie McWilliams – who helped put Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig in Bond’s shoes over the years – said that “it is absolutely essential that [Bond] retains a total enigma,” adding: “We want to know as little about them personally as possible, because that’s what spies are.
“We don’t need to know where he goes shopping or who his parents are, or where he lives … He’s licensed to kill, and we have to believe that he can do that. If you don’t, then you’ve lost the audience.”
Actor Ben Whishaw, who played gadget-maker Q alongside Daniel Craig’s Bond, said in an interview this weekend that he believes the franchise “needs to be reinvented completely”.
The new Bond film, to be directed by Dune’s Denis Villeneuve, follows Daniel Craig’s final outing as Bond in No Time To Die, which was released in October 2021 after being delayed by the pandemic.
Amazon made a controversial purchase of the franchise’s long-time backers at MGM Studios in January 2025, taking control of the much-loved series.
