Diamonds may be forever, but an actor staying in the role of cinematic superspy James Bond is not. No matter how well they are like by the public and critics, and current Bond Daniel Craig certainly is on both accounts, he will eventually bow out to make room for another actor. So who may take on the role when Craig’s time is over? It seems that some folks are betting they know, and the oddsmakers in London are responding.
This past week has seen bookmakers in London taking a number of wagers on Homeland actor Damien Lewis taking on the role of Bond, so much so that they have adjusted the odds they were offering on the actor. Previously, Lewis had been set at 25/1 of him becoming the seventh 007 but a recent flurry of betting up to £200 per person on soccer have had bookmakers William Hill adjusting his odds to 3/1 and Ladbrokes making him a 2/1 favourite. At Betfair, Lewis’s odds have been slashed from 50/1 to 4/1 while Paddy Power have cut the odds from 20/1 to 5/2.
For comparison, William Hill has Idris Elba at 5/2 odds of becoming the next James Bond, followed by Tom Hardy at 4/1, Henry Cavill at 5/1 and Michael Fassbender at 7/1.
Is Lewis a good choice for the role? While I haven’t dipped too much into Homeland, I did enjoy the intensity he brought to his role in the series Life, which ran two seasons on NBC from 2007 to 2009, in which he played a Los Angeles detective recently freed from being wrongfully imprisoned, unraveling the conspiracy that placed him behind bars. Although he sported a flawless American accent in the show, Lewis is actually British. He also recently starred in the film The Silent Storm which was produced by Bond franchise producer Barbara Brocolli, and reportedly the two got along well on that project.
Currently, the 24th Bond film, Spectre, is in production for a November release. Daniel Craig has one more film left on his current contract, so I don’t think we would see Lewis, or any replacement should Craig decide against reupping for another round, on screen in the immediate future.
Via Hollywood Reporter.
