Best Movies By The James Bond Frontrunners, Including Jack O'Connell & Callum Turner

Each of the major contenders to play the next James Bond has appeared in an acclaimed movie that flaunts not only their acting prowess, but also their suitability to play 007. For years, speculation surrounding the next James Bond has become almost as much of a tradition as the franchise itself. Ever since Daniel Craig concluded his tenure with No Time to Die in 2021, audiences have debated which actor will inherit cinema's most famous tuxedo.

The next era of James Bond will be overseen by Amazon MGM, with Denis Villeneuve directing the 26th Bond movie and Steven Knight writing the screenplay. Recent reports have suggested that the shortlist includes a mixture of established stars and younger performers, while Gary Oldman's comments have intensified speculation around one particular Slow Horses actor.

Looking at the standout films and television projects from several rumored frontrunners reveals exactly why casting discussions have centered on these performers. Some have built careers in large-scale action movies, others have gravitated toward independent cinema, prestige dramas, horror, period pieces, or television.

Rather than ranking the actors themselves, these are the films that best represent what each has achieved so far. While some choices showcase their strongest performances, others are simply the most impressive movies in which they have appeared. Together, they offer a useful snapshot of actors whose careers have made them worthy of consideration for one of cinema's most coveted roles.

Jack O'Connell - Sinners (2025)

Jack O'Connell has spent years proving himself as one of Britain's most versatile performers, with impeccable performances in numerous movies and television series. While arguably the greatest display of his talent was in Starred Up, the greatest movie he has appeared in could only be Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.

The supernatural period horror became one of 2025's most acclaimed releases, blending vampires, Southern Gothic, and historical drama into a distinctive hybrid. O'Connell played Remmick, a charismatic yet deeply unsettling antagonist.

Remmick is particularly interesting because O'Connell does not initially play him as an obvious monster. He presents himself as an outsider capable of speaking to the community's hopes and grievances, making his seem almost seductive. Even when sharing the screen with Michael B. Jordan, O'Connell remained impossible to ignore.

Sinners is O’Connell’s most accomplished film overall, and Remmick allows O'Connell to demonstrate his ability to be charming, threatening, theatrical, and physically imposing within the same performance. All of these are major facets in playing Bond effectively.

Callum Turner - Green Room (2015)

Before leading projects such as Masters of the Air and attracting Bond speculation, Callum Turner appeared in one of the most nerve-racking thrillers of the 2010s. Jeremy Saulnier's Green Room is a brutally efficient horror-thriller about a punk band trapped inside a remote venue after witnessing a murder committed by a violent neo-Nazi group.

Turner plays Tiger, the band’s lead vocalist. He memorably performs an anti-Nazi punk anthem, instigating the tension with the bar owners that instigates the movie’s grim narrative.

Saulnier's film is lean, violent, and tense, while Turner is part of an ensemble that has to make every decision feel immediate. Green Room is still one of his most memorable early films, even as later projects have given him considerably more screen time.

Other noteworthy roles include Major John "Bucky" Egan in Masters of the Air and as Liam in Rose of Nevada, a man trapped in a folk horror time-travel nightmare. That range is precisely why Turner has been included in Bond casting discourses.

Jack Reynor - Midsommar (2019)

Jack Reynor's strongest film is arguably Ari Aster's Midsommar, which places him opposite Florence Pugh in one of the defining horror movies of the 2010s. Reynor plays Christian Hughes, an American graduate student whose relationship with Dani is already deteriorating before the couple travels to Sweden for a midsummer festival.

Christian's emotional detachment is crucial to the film, particularly because Aster deliberately avoids turning him into a conventional antagonist. His selfishness is recognizable precisely because Reynor makes Christian frustratingly ordinary.

Christian rarely behaves in ways that seem overtly monstrous, yet his actions repeatedly reveal deeper flaws. Reynor expertly communicates his arrogance, insecurity, and passivity simultaneously.

Midsommar followed Reynor's much more mainstream appearance in Transformers: Age of Extinction, as well as his acclaimed work in What Richard Did. Reynor recently returned to horror with Lee Cronin's The Mummy and starred in two different musicals, flaunting his diverse range.

Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein (2025)

Jacob Elordi's transformation into the Creature in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein marked a significant turning point in his career. Del Toro's adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel casts Elordi as the Creature opposite Oscar Isaac's Victor Frankenstein, with Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz also starring.

Del Toro's interpretation emphasized the Creature's innocence, emotional vulnerability, and growing self-awareness. Elordi was widely praised for his performance, which many critics suggested held the whole movie together. Elordi very much provided the substance to del Toro’s style.

Elordi's career had previously been defined by a very different progression. He became widely known through The Kissing Booth movies before establishing himself dramatically in Emerald Fennell's Saltburn.

Frankenstein represents the point at which those strands come together. The Creature required Elordi to disappear beneath extensive makeup and prosthetics while communicating isolation and emotional development largely through physical performance. While not exactly a requirement for playing James Bond, it certainly demonstrates his impressive abilities.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Few Bond candidates possess a filmography as varied as Aaron Taylor-Johnson's. He broke through as the title character in Kick-Ass, played John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Kraven the Hunter. Yet Nocturnal Animals remains one of his most significant films.

Tom Ford's 2016 psychological thriller casts Taylor-Johnson as Ray Marcus, the violent criminal who becomes the central antagonist of the novel-within-the-film written by Edward Sheffield, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. The role earned Taylor-Johnson a Golden Globe and showed a side of his acting that audiences had rarely seen previously.

Ray is unpredictable, dangerous, and deeply uncomfortable to watch. Taylor-Johnson avoids cartoonish villainy entirely, creating a character whose menace comes from uncertainty.

Taylor-Johnson's later role in Bullet Train provides a better demonstration of his Bond suitability, spotlighting his comic timing and action-star charisma. However, Nocturnal Animals is the most striking film in his catalog because of how completely he embraces an unpleasant character.

Jack Lowden - Calibre (2018)

Jack Lowden's career has expanded considerably through his role in the television series Slow Horses, where his River Cartwright operates within the dysfunctional MI5 unit headed by Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb. However, his 2018 survival thriller Calibre is his finest movie.

Directed by Matt Palmer, Calibre follows two friends whose hunting trip in the Scottish Highlands turns into a nightmare after a fatal shooting. Lowden plays Vaughn, whose attempt to protect himself and his friend Marcus gradually becomes a test of how far ordinary people can go when faced with catastrophic consequences.

Lowden's other major film credits include Dunkirk, Mary Queen of Scots, and Fighting with My Family. Calibre in particular demonstrates that Lowden can carry a thriller, explaining why his name continues to surface in Bond discussions.

Recent Bond speculation has become particularly intense after Slow Horses co-star Oldman suggested that the next 007 has already been chosen and expressed his hope that it would be Lowden.

Jack Barton - Heartstopper Forever (2026)

Jack Barton is the least established film actor on this list, making Heartstopper Forever an important addition to his short feature film career. The 2026 Netflix movie serves as the feature-length finale to Alice Oseman's Heartstopper, with Barton returning as David Nelson, Nick's older brother.

David is not the center of the story, which remains focused on Nick and Charlie, but it gives Barton another opportunity to develop the complicated relationship between the Nelson brothers.

Barton is best known for several television roles, including Rogue Heroes and The War of the Worlds, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role in Poor Things. Heartstopper Forever is the most substantial film role he has had so far.

As his career develops, Rogue Heroes may ultimately provide a clearer indication of what he can do in action-heavy material. Yet one important feature seen in Heartstoppers is his more traditionally charming energy. That quality has historically been crucial to Bond and Barton possesses the effortless likability to make it.

Harris Dickinson - Triangle Of Sadness (2022)

Harris Dickinson's Triangle of Sadness is the defining movie in a filmography that has already taken him from British independent cinema to major Hollywood productions. Ruben Östlund's Palme d'Or winner casts Dickinson as Carl, a young male model traveling on a luxury yacht with his more successful girlfriend, Yaya, played by Charlbi Dean.

Triangle of Sadness eventually strands its wealthy passengers on an island and turns its social hierarchy upside down. Carl's insecurity about his career and his relationship makes him considerably more complicated than the superficial male-model stereotype might suggest.

Dickinson had already made an impression in Beach Rats, and subsequent projects have included The King's Man and Blitz. Triangle of Sadness nevertheless remains his most significant film.

Dickinson has to navigate Östlund's deliberately uncomfortable comedy while sharing the screen with actors including Woody Harrelson. It established him as more than a conventional young leading man and helped make him one of the most interesting performers among the generation now being discussed to take over James Bond.