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Q: Do we know who will play James Bond next?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

At time of writing, that's still a mystery, but this is a hot one that could change at any minute.

For example, a previously unknown actor is now the betting person's fourth favorite to take on the iconic role. Regé-Jean Page of the popular new Netflix hit "Bridgerton" entered the race out of nowhere and is suddenly a top contender.

I refer to betting because people are, in fact, doing just that. Ladbroke's, the U.K.-based betting firm, runs a book with odds for who will take the role, and it's pretty closely followed by the industry and news media.

The current favorite is Tom Hardy (the chameleonic star of 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises" among many others). There are a lot of things going in his favor, including the fact that he's a dapper British white guy, just like all the previous James Bonds.

However, Page is suddenly getting good odds to shake that up as the first Black Bond (though Idris Elba is actually ahead of him on the list at No. 3). Page leapt into the conversation in December when he tweeted a teaser for "Bridgerton" with the text "Regency, royalty. Shaken and stirred" (a reference, of course, to Bond's preferred martini technique).

However, No. 2 on the odds list, behind Hardy, is James Norton (a lesser-known British star mostly known for domestic TV, though the rest of the world saw him as John Brooke in the 2019 adaptation of "Little Women"). He's seen as another safe choice because he follows in the tradition of past Bonds.

 

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