Eight months have gone by since we heard that Aaron Taylor-Johnson of Bullet Train and The Fall Guy had been chosen as the latest actor to take on the role of super spy James Bond – and while the former Bond, Daniel Craig, doesn’t care who’s going to follow in his footsteps, fans are still anxiously waiting to hear if Taylor-Johnson is going to be Bond, or if the role is going to someone else. While we continue to wait, the release date of Taylor-Johnson’s next film, Sony’s Marvel Comics adaptation Kraven the Hunter, is swiftly approaching. The movie is set to reach theatres on December 13th – and Taylor-Johnson recommends that Bond fans check it out.
Directed by J. C. Chandor from a screenplay by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway, Kraven the Hunter has the following synopsis: Kraven the Hunter is the visceral, action-packed origin story of how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff, starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
Taylor-Johnson is joined in the cast by Ariana DeBose as voodoo priestess Calypso Ezili, Fred Hechinger as Kraven’s estranged brother and master of disguise Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon, Alessandro Nivola as Russian mercenary and human-rhino hybrid Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino, Christopher Abbott as a mercenary and assassin known as the Foreigner, and Russell Crowe as Kraven’s estranged father, the ruthless crime lord Nikolai Kravinoff.
When ComicBook.com asked him about the James Bond rumors, Taylor-Johnson answered, “I think, you know, if that’s the thing you’re really into [Bond] and that’s the kind of movie you love, then you should come see this movie [Kraven the Hunter] because the action in this is insane and super exciting. So, yeah, honestly, I don’t think it would disappoint, brother.“
As of earlier this month, Bond franchise producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson weren’t willing to confirm or deny the Aaron Taylor-Johnson rumors to the Associated Press. They would only say the next Bond “will be a man. He’ll likely be in his 30s. Whiteness is not a given. And whoever says yes is doing so with the expectation of at least a decade’s worth of films.” Wilson said, “Every time we cast a new actor, the films change. It’s the excitement of a new Bond, a new direction. Every one of these people who took on the role offered something new and different.“
Are you a James Bond fan, and will you be watching Kraven the Hunter? What do you think of the idea of Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing Bond? Let us know by leaving a comment below.