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A Slow Horses star just might be the next James Bond (No, not Gary Oldman)

Jack Lowden is rumored to be in the running to play James Bond in Denis Villeneuve's film

An image from Slow Horses — Image credit: Apple TV+

News by Jules Chin Greene, Staff Writer

Published on Wed Aug 12 2026

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According to a new report, Jack Lowden, a Slow Horses actor, is in the running to play James Bond in the next era of 007 movies. While rumors still swirl around Jacob Elordi as Bond, it appears that the search for Bond is still ongoing.

In an episode of the podcast, The Rest is Entertainment, entitled "Sex Playlists - A Deep Dive" (no, I'm not making this up), producer Richard Osman dished on the men in the running to play 007. Osman said, "The name I’ve heard is Jack Lowden. It is definitively not a ‘he’s definitely got it’ thing. He is definitely being strongly considered. I think he’d be amazing."

I think I'll need 5 to 7 business days to process that last bit of information. But if you've been paying attention to Lowden's career for the past decade, he's been steadily building steam in British film and television. He appeared in the films, Dunkirk and Mary, Queen of Scots, while popping up in TV shows like Small Axe, Slow Horses, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. He played Sauron in a flashback scene in The Rings of Power, in case you're wondering.

Denis Villeneuve will be directing Bond 26, the twenty-sixth film in the franchise, with the script to be written by Steven Knight.

The sixth season of Slow Horses will begin on September 16, 2026.

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Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, and Multiverse of Color.