Sorry, Callum Turner and Jacob Elordi!

Former Bond casting director doesn’t think the rumored famous contenders should be 007: ‘We know so much about them’

Sorry, Callum Turner and Jacob Elordi!

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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June 29, 2026 7:15 p.m. ET

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Callum Turner; Daniel Craig as James Bond; Jacob Elordi. Credit:

Jerod Harris/Getty; Karen Ballard/Columbia; ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty

- Former James Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams is against a famous actor being the new 007.

- McWilliams previously cast Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.

- She believes Craig's successor should be "somebody who is completely out of the blue."

It seems like everyone has an opinion on who should be the next James Bond (thanks for sharing, George Clooney!), but the woman who helped find the last three 007s is now sharing her expert thoughts.

For 40 years, Debbie McWilliams was the casting director for the Bond franchise, having hired Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig. While McWilliams retired after the last film, 2021's *No Time to Die*, she does have a suggestion for her replacement: stay away from established stars, like Jacob Elordi and Callum Turner.

"I don't want to see any of them as James Bond because we now know so much about them," McWilliams told *The Independent*, adding that Craig's successor should be "somebody who is completely out of the blue."

The next Bond film will be a completely new era for the series. Amazon MGM Studios has taken over creative control, and they've brought in writer Steven Knight (*Peaky Blinders*), casting director Nina Gold (*Game of Thrones*), producers Amy Pascal (*Spider-Man: Homecoming*) and David Heyman (*Barbie*), and director Denis Villeneuve (*Dune*).

Daniel Craig in 'Casino Royale'.

Jay Maidment/Columbia

McWilliams believes that it's "essential" that both Bond and the actor have to be a "total enigma."

She further argues that neither Dalton nor Brosnan were "particularly well known" when she cast them as 007, and Craig was far from a "household name." McWilliams believes that kind of anonymity and chip on your shoulder can only help.

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“He was such an unpopular choice,” McWilliams recalled of Craig being tapped to debut as Bond in 2006's *Casino Royale*. “Nobody supported it. Not the studio. Not the director ... He thought, ‘I’m going to show you bastards,’ and he did. And everybody went, ‘Oh my god, isn’t he wonderful?’ So don’t ask the people who they want, because they won’t know.”

Well, too late! When Amazon initially took control of the property, Jeff Bezos asked social media who should be the next guy. In reaction, McWilliams declared, “That’s not how you cast a film, Jeff!”

George Clooney reveals his pick for the next James Bond: 'The perfect guy to do it'

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But among those to already chime in is Clooney, who went out of his way to declare Turner to be "the perfect guy."

Now, Clooney didn't necessarily go out on a limb with his selection of Mr. Dua Lipa, considering many online markets have Turner as the betting favorite to land the role. And still, Turner insisted that he's had no conversations about Bond and refused to comment on if he'd be interested.

“I’ll tell you what’s so funny about the Bond thing: Even your best friends ask you, people text you that you haven’t spoken to for 10 years — and you know nothing!” Turner told *THR*. “It’s such a weird thing of something happening and nothing happening at all. I genuinely know nothing. I just find it quite amusing.”

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