Aaron Taylor-Johnson appears to have dropped the biggest hint yet that he’s about to play James Bond.
The Bullet Train actor sat down with Esquire prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike to chat about his latest movie, Kraven, and the interviewer naturally tried to broach the topic of Aaron’s rumoured 007 role.
Unfortunately, the actor wasn’t too keen on discussing it – though he didn’t outright deny reports either. This has, of course, further fuelled the rumours.
In his Esquire cover story, journalist Alex Pappademas explains how he “gently inquired” about whether Aaron has any other projects coming up that they haven’t discussed, to which the actor said no.
When Alex then mentioned ‘Ladbrokes’ and attempted to talk about the fact Aaron is currently the bookies’ favourite for the Bond role, they ended up “talking over each other, past each other, as if he’s pretending not to hear me”.
Aaron then offered the cryptic response: “As I’ve already told you, I have to go by the beat of my own drum.
“It’s my own path, what feels intuitive to me. I’ve never made a decision based on other people’s perspectives, or their judgments, or their expectations. You lose your fucking mind if you do that.
“Your sense of worth and soul is gone. You need to understand what is integral to you and what feels right, and you’ve got to stay on track with what’s present in front of you. Kraven is what’s in front of me.”
As the journalist persisted with the question, he claims Aaron switched between making no noise at all to offering statements including “it’s not really for me to say anything”.
The journalist writes: “It’s worth noting that at any point Taylor-Johnson could have shut this down by saying, ‘No, mate, I’m not fucking playing James Bond,’ and he never does.”
HuffPost UK has contacted Aaron’s representative for comment.
Daniel Craig initially quit as Bond after 2015’s Spectre but later reversed his decision and returned to the role for No Time To Die, which was released in 2021 after a 15-month delay due to the pandemic.
The film world has been abuzz with speculation as to who will take over from him since 2015, with everyone from Henry Cavill to Harry Styles finding themselves being linked to the iconic role.
Read Esquire’s Aaron Taylor-Johnson interview here.