Jack Lowden responds to claims he's the 'clear favourite' to play James Bond

Jack Lowden has spoken out about rumours that he is the favourite to take on the role of James Bond.

The iconic role has been vacant since Daniel Craig's final appearance in 2021's No Time to Die, with Craig since having taken on the role of the verbose southern detective Benoit Blanc in the Knives Out films on Netflix.

But now speculation is rife over who will be the next person to don the tuxedo, gadget watch, and Walther PPK pistol in the next iteration of the long-running character.

Seven actors have played the role, each bringing a different feel, whether it's more outlandish plots featuring space lasers and killer piranhas, or the grittier approach taken in the Craig films.

Now, reports have suggested that casting is approaching the final stages, with Lowden, Callum Turner, and Josh O’Connor rumoured to be undergoing screen tests for the role.

Lowden's role in the ongoing Apple TV series Slow Horses, itself a spy thriller, though one with fewer Vesper Martinis and more greasy kebabs and foul language, has led to him being considered a frontrunner for Bond, something his Slow Horses co-star Gary Oldman has also remarked on.

Lowden is not giving anything away about the casting for Bond (Mike Marsland/WireImage)

Oldman spoke to a press junket saying that he believed that Bond has now been cast, and that he hopes it is Lowden who has bagged the role.

Since Oldman's remarks, the rumour mill has of course gone into overdrive, and Lowden has himself commented, and though he's remained tightlipped on the matter, he hasn't said that he's definitely not Bond, either.

“On this… It’s all very flattering. It’s nice to be mentioned – for any role – and I’m just not really going to add to the noise,” he told GQ.

"It’s very nice, and Gary’s a sweetheart – it’s particularly lovely, coming from someone like him. But I don’t really listen to it."

He added: “As a young male actor, generally, the minute you’re not playing a zany artist type, the minute you’re in a suit, people fling it at you.”

The show Slow Horses follows the titular department, who are a detail of spies who have wound up in the dead end department through incompetence, bad luck, or annoying the wrong person.

Lowden's role in Slow Horses has led to him being viewed as a favourite for the role (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Lowden's performance as River Cartwright, a young spy who is assigned to the inept 'Slow Horses' detail as punishment after messing up during a training exercise, has proven the perfect foil to Oldman's portrayal of the potty-mouthed, greasy-haired, kebab-scoffing spymaster Jackson Lamb.

The show has proven very successful, with six seasons out so far, and has also previously led to speculation that Lowden may take on the biggest spy role going.

But if he's not giving anything away now, he certainly wasn't giving anything away after Craig left the role.

Back in 2023, two years after Craig's final appearance in No Time to Die, he told LADBible sister title UNILAD: “I still really am not over the fact that Daniel Craig doesn't do it anymore.

“I think an older James Bond would be fantastic. That's where Jackson Lamb is maybe going to start a new breed of spies.

“It should either still be Daniel Craig, or maybe we should go the way of more Jackson Lamb.”