A major hint in the hunt for the next James Bond has been inadvertently revealed.
Slow Horses cast member Jack Lowden–reportedly a frontrunner for the role–was conspicuously missing from the announcement for the Apple TV show’s upcoming eighth season. The Emmy-winning show stars Lowden and Gary Oldman, but the Sep. 15 press release for an upcoming season didn’t name Lowden.
Instead, Apple TV said the season will focus on Oldman’s character, Jackson Lamb, and Kristin Scott Thomas’s character, Diana Taverner.
“Season eight sees Jackson Lamb and Diana Taverner face off in their most explosive confrontation yet,” reads the official statement. “When a botched attempt to blackmail the Park puts Taverner on the offensive, it is up to Lamb to unravel one of MI5’s darkest secrets and put an end to it once and for all.”
Lowden has been starring in the critically acclaimed spy drama since its 2022 debut.
The show’s sixth season premieres on Sept. 16. The Daily Beast describes the new chapter as “one of the best yet,” pointing out that “Lowden excels.”
But the star may have a new spy role to fill. The search for the next 007 has sparked widespread speculation, with actors like Tom Francis, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Mescal, and Jack Barton rumored to be in the running.
Lowden’s Slow Horses colleague Oldman revealed that his younger co-star is “on the shortlist.”
“They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack,” Oldman told Canada Global’s The Morning Show. After his remarks were seen as a confirmation of Lowden’s role, Oldman later clarified that he was simply “hoping” Lowden gets the part.
“There are six people on a shortlist. I heard a rumor that they’ve picked James Bond, but they haven’t announced it yet, which is their prerogative,” he said at the Toronto International Film Festival. “So I do not know, but I’m hoping it’s Jack.”
He doubled down on the clarification, explaining, “I said, ‘Fingers crossed for my mate Jack.’ And that was it. Like I’m in with the Bond people. I’ve got a red thumb. So, let me please put the record straight: I do not know who the next James Bond is.”
Producer Amy Pascal, who is working on the upcoming Amazon MGM film, said that Daniel Craig’s replacement will likely be revealed to the public by the end of the year.
“I mean, Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow. And it’s got to be something really different that is stirring and exciting and different,” she told Deadline. She described the casting process as “really, really methodical.”
Denis Villeneuve, director of Dune, and Steven Knight, writer of Peaky Blinders, are set to work on the next installment of the long-running franchise.
