Villeneuve Set to Direct Next James Bond, Amazon MGM Confirms
Amazon MGM Studios has hired Denis Villeneuve to direct the next James Bond film and Steven Knight to write the script, The Guardian reported on 13 November 2026. The studio paid more than $1bn to acquire creative control of the franchise from Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the British-American producers who inherited the series from Albert "Cubby" Broccoli.
The search for a new 007 is also moving. The same report says the shortlist is understood to be down to five actors: Callum Turner, Jack Lowden, Josh O'Connor, Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult. No one has been named.
The job has been vacant since Daniel Craig stepped down after No Time to Die, the film in which Bond appears to be killed in a missile strike. Six actors have held the role before him. The franchise has 25 official films, not counting the unofficial Casino Royale from 1967 and Never Say Never Again from 1983.
Money is a big part of the Bond story. The films have taken more than $7.8bn at the box office since 1962, making Bond the sixth most lucrative film franchise ever, according to the same report. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have written the screenplays for the last seven films, so Knight's appointment marks a change of writer for the series.
Bond unveilings have never been low key. Sean Connery's casting was announced in 1962 in a 15-line item in the trade magazine Daily Cinema, titled "Meet James Bond", next to a photograph of Connery holding a cigarette. Roger Moore was introduced in 1972 at the Dorchester hotel in London.
Craig's 2005 introduction was the most unusual of the lot. He travelled down the Thames on a Royal Marine speedboat, then held a press conference at HMS President, a shore unit of the Royal Naval Reserve. Safety rules required him to wear a lifejacket, and the pictures were widely mocked. Years later he called the day "a train wreck" and said he had been terrified.
For fans, the announcement puts two names with long track records at the centre of the next film. Villeneuve has directed several large-scale science fiction films, and Knight has written for both film and television. The studio has not yet said when filming will begin or when the film will reach cinemas.
