Whenever a young and attractive British actor reaches a certain level of international mainstream appeal, they earn the status of being rumored to be the next James Bond. By virtue of being young, attractive, famous, and British, the narrative of their career will suddenly be refocused toward the ultimate goal of playing 007. Just ask Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Tom Hiddleston, Lashana Lynch, Robert Pattinson, Sam Heughan, James Norton, Henry Golding, or Richard Madden, among many others.
Today we can welcome Regé-Jean Page, now of Bridgerton fame, to this club.
Regency, royalty
Shaken and stirred.#Bridgerton pic.twitter.com/cSwnSpLQCy
— Regé-Jean Page (@regejean) December 16, 2020
Last month, just before the release of the Netflix hit Bridgerton, Page posted on Twitter a “Shaken not stirred” Bond reference, igniting speculation that he might be in the running for the job after Daniel Craig‘s final film, fueling rumours and slashing the odds on him getting the job.
“Tom Hardy still leads the way as favourite, with James Norton close behind in second place. But it really is all to play for in the race for 007 and RJP has a great chance if the odds are anything to go by,” British bookmaker Ladbrokes told Variety.
While none of this actually means anything at all, Page might be the most exciting new Bond prospect since Golding or even Elba. If you look at the list above, the group of potential candidates ranges from predictable (sorry, Hiddleston and Norton) to absolutely not going to happen (bye Hardy and Elba and probably Pattinson now that he’s Battinson).
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