UK oddsmakers wager Damian Lewis will succeed Daniel Craig as James Bond

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Apropos of nothing, a U.K. odds-maker has decided to change their odds on who will take Daniel Craig‘s place when the actor stops playing James Bond. Craig is currently filming SPECTRE, the follow-up to his most successful turn as 007. While Craig has not said he is leaving the role, after four films you would have to imagine he may be looking for other opportunities in his career. Whenever that may happen, a new search will commence for his replacement and people are already making their wagers as to who it might be.

So, while there is no reason to assume these numbers hold any bearing, it is worth noting that British bookie William Hill has lowered the odds on Homeland star Damian Lewis to become the next James Bond from 25/1 to 3/1. There does not seem to be any specific reason as to why this happened but Lewis now has better odds than Idris Elba (5/2), Tom Hardy (4/1), Henry Cavill (5/1) and Michael Fassbender (7/1).

I would expect that Daniel Craig has at least one or two more Bond outings left in him after SPECTRE, but that is just conjecture. He is contracted for one more film after the Sam Mendes directed sequel to SKYFALL but I would anticipate Sony would want to lock him up for more. Damian Lewis is no longer on Homeland which was his biggest exposure to the public, so casting him would be a strange choice. Plus, there has never been a red-headed Bond before and I would think Idris Elba would be more likely to cross the color barrier than a ginger.

Whoever succeeds Daniel Craig as James Bond is probably going to have the hardest gig since Sean Connery left the role. Craig has takent the rebooted franchise to new heights, both critically and financially. SPECTRE is poised to do great things as well, so I wouldn’t get used to hearing about who the next Bond will be for a long while.

SPECTRE hits theaters on November 6th.