Final James Bond Screen Tests Set for the Coming Week
Amazon MGM Studios is about to put its last group of James Bond candidates in front of the cameras. Deadline reported on 22 October 2026 that the tests could begin as early as Friday, 23 October, and run through the following week.
At least four actors have been given test offers for the role of 007, the spy codename that the franchise's hero carries. Deadline, citing insiders, reported that three of those four are Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O'Connor. The studio has not announced the names.
The final round was first planned for earlier in October. It was moved to the end of the month because of schedule conflicts, so the tests could take place at around the same time. Deadline reported that there is no set date for a final decision, though the expectation is that a choice will be made by the end of the year.
The list reached this point through several stages. Amazon MGM Studios held first-round auditions in August and sent out test offers in September. Producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman and director Denis Villeneuve then cut the field to the final group. Casting director Nina Gold joined the project in the spring, when the search began, as Variety reported in May.
Villeneuve, who is Oscar-nominated, was chosen earlier to direct the next film, and Steven Knight is writing the script. Amazon's studio gained creative control over the franchise in February 2025, according to Reuters. Amazon bought MGM, the studio behind Bond, for $8.5 billion in 2021. In that same 2025 report, producer Barbara Broccoli hinted that the next Bond will be a man in his thirties.
Bond auditions have their own history. In 2022, producer Michael G. Wilson said the bedroom scene from the 1963 film From Russia With Love is used in auditions. Not every rumour about the search has held up, either. In January 2026, Deadline reported that claims an unknown actor, Scott Rose-Marsh, had auditioned for the part were a hoax.
For fans, the next few weeks are the stage where names move from rumour to a shortlist. Anyone hoping for an official announcement will need to wait. The studio's decision is expected by the end of the year, and the final names will come from the screen tests that start this week.
