Take a look at our newest merchandise
Jamie Weiss
Even earlier than 2021’s No Time to Die was launched – the twenty-fifth James Bond movie, and the fifth and ultimate to star Daniel Craig as 007 – it appeared that we journalists had been speculating wildly about who would change Craig because the world’s most well-known fictional spy. 4 years later, and it appears we’re no nearer to a solution… Or are we? That is the place being passingly accustomed to the machinations of the watch world could be very useful, with a contemporary Omega signing suggesting that we’d lastly know who’s taking on the mantle.
Earlier this yr in February, Man of Metal and The Witcher star Henry Cavill, who was broadly tipped to be a frontrunner for the Bond function, was confirmed as Longines’ newest “Ambassador of Class”. As our US Editor Zach Blass wrote on the time, this in all probability meant that Cavill was out of the working as James Bond, as any 007 actor could be beholden to Omega – though personally, I feel his undercooked appearances in cheesier spy flicks Argylle (2024) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) in all probability sealed the deal way back.
However I digress. In the previous couple of days, one other English actor who’s additionally been one of the crucial widely-tipped names to be the following James Bond, Aaron Taylor-Johnson – who you would possibly know from Bullet Prepare (2022) or Nocturnal Animals (2016) – has simply been confirmed as Omega’s newest model ambassador, with the star marking the event with a visit to Omega’s manufacture in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Once more, to the common punter, this looks like very company information or inside baseball… However we reckon this all however confirms that Taylor-Johnson would be the subsequent Bond.
You is likely to be asking your self why an Omega ambassadorship is such a powerful optimistic signal when this has appeared like a foregone conclusion for yonks? For context, in March final yr, The Solar and Time each reported that Taylor-Johnson had been provided the function by Eon Productions and so they had been simply ready for him to signal on the dotted line. Nevertheless, in February this yr, Eon’s homeowners/producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli introduced the formation of a three way partnership with Amazon MGM Studios that has handed over full inventive management of the franchise to the latter.
This deal has left the way forward for the Bond franchise considerably unsure: there’s a world during which Amazon, for example, may not have wished Aaron Taylor-Johnson as 007. Nevertheless, the chance of Omega relinquishing its partnership with the extremely profitable film franchise (or Amazon interfering with that long-standing relationship) is subsequent to nil. James Bond and Omega have turn out to be inseparable, so to see Taylor-Johnson get anointed by Omega means that the wheels that had been in movement are persevering with to show, and his affirmation as James Bond is imminent. So far as I’m involved, it’s a executed deal.
Taylor-Johnson additionally simply is smart as Bond. Not solely does he have the appears to be like, allure and performing chops to do the function justice, he’s the suitable age: the speak has been that they’re in search of a youthful Bond, and he’s 34 (Cavill, for comparability, is 42). Daniel Craig was 38 when he starred in his first Bond movie, 2006’s On line casino Royale, and he performed Bond for 15 years. It’s a task you are inclined to play for properly over a decade, so Taylor-Johnson matches the invoice.
After all, there’s one other Omega ambassador who’s been on the books for some time that has additionally been tipped to play Bond: Eddie Redmayne, who was completely spectacular because the eponymous murderer within the TV collection The Day of the Jackal (2024). Nevertheless, at 43, Redmayne might be just a little too previous to play 007, and has additionally poured water just lately on the prospect of him enjoying the key agent.
Nope, I feel Aaron Taylor-Johnson is much extra doubtless. On the very least, Omega has secured a dashing new wrist mannequin – and saved the Bond hype prepare chugging alongside…
