It already feels like we’ve been waiting for an age to find out the identity of the new James Bond. Barbara Broccoli and the team are staying tight-lipped at this stage, but Greta Gerwig thinks she found the perfect contender on the set of the Barbie movie: Kingsley Ben-Adir.
In a new interview, Gerwig explained that the Barbie star behind Basketball Ken is perfectly poised to wear the iconic tuxedo as Bond. The Barbie cast was absolutely stacked with Hollywood talent, helping it to become one of the best movies of 2023, but Gerwig said one particular moment with Ben-Adir convinced her that he should take 007 into the future.
Gerwig told Variety that the scene in which Ben-Adir addresses the crowd in the final moments of the movie came from a single line of direction to “ascend the throne”. She added: “Everybody’s jaws dropped. I was like: ‘Get this footage to whoever is making James Bond immediately’.”
Ben-Adir is certainly the right profile of actor to become the next James Bond. Crucially, he’s British, and he’s also just 37 years old, giving him more than a decade as a viable Bond leading man. That’s exactly the age Daniel Craig was when he began filming Casino Royale.
The star has also brought real gravitas to some hefty roles, most notably playing Malcolm X in 2020 movie One Night in Miami. He also popped up in the MCU this year as the rogue Skrull leader Gravik in Secret Invasion. The show wasn’t up to much, but Gravik’s simmering intensity was a worthy addition to the ranks of the best Marvel villains.
It might be a little while, though, before we hear whether Ben-Adir actually will take on the Bond role. It has now been two years since we wrote in our No Time to Die review that the movie was “a fond farewell to Craig’s Bond”, but we’re no closer to finding out what will happen next.
Bond-themed gameshow 007: Road to a Million is new on Amazon Prime in November, but producer Barbara Broccoli told Variety that the franchise is in the middle of “a whole new reinvention” that will “take some time”. So don’t expect your favorite Ken to be unveiled as Bond any time soon.
For more on the pink-hued blockbuster that took summer by storm, read our Barbie review and learn about the detail that shows Barbie is darker than you think. We’ve also explained why 2023 was the summer of petty men in the movies. Sorry, Ken.
Alternatively, look ahead to the potential for new movies as we speculate about the Barbie 2 release date.