Outlander star Sam Heughan no longer frontrunner to be next James Bond

James Bond fans have been eagerly anticipating the announcement of who will take on the role of the iconic MI5 spy as Daniel Craig’s last time playing him will be in upcoming box office hit No Time To Die.
Sam Heughan has been the predicted frontrunner for the new Bond roleSam Heughan has been the predicted frontrunner for the new Bond role
Sam Heughan has been the predicted frontrunner for the new Bond role

Scottish Outlander star Sam Heughan has been the presumed frontrunner to take up the mantle of the iconic character due to his growing popularity as an actor – and proved ability to do his own stunts.

However, it has been revealed that the odds are no longer in his favour and McMafia star James Norton could be the first in line to take up the role as Bond.

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Bookmaker Coral released the odds of Norton, who is best known for his time on Grantchester, taking on the role. While Heughan was originally the favourite, he now sits at second place with 3-1.

Norton has since overtaken him with 6-4 odds on becoming the international man of mystery.

Coral's John Hill told Express.co.uk: "James Norton looks destined to be 007 one day. And our betting suggests that is likely to come sooner rather than later as he is our hot favourite to replace Daniel Craig.”

Also involved in the running to be the next Bond is Tom Hiddleston at 5-1, Richard Madden with 6-1, and Tom Hardy with 8-1.

Daniel Craig’s final Bond film was originally expected to be out this past April but is among many films to have their release date pushed back due to coronavirus and is now set to be out in cinemas across the UK on November 12.

In the meantime, fans continue to wait for the announcement of the new actor.

Composer Hans Zimmer recently spoke to Variety about his work on the upcoming film No Time To Die and explained how surprised he was at getting the call.

"I've known [producer] Barbara Broccoli for a long time," Zimmer said. "And we're friends. I never thought we would work together on something like that, so it was surprising just to get the call.

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"I didn't know if I wanted to do it. So I phoned Johnny Marr and I said: 'I have two questions to ask you. First question is: what's the only guitar part worth playing in a movie?' And he said, 'The Bond part'.

"And I said, 'Yeah right. Second question: Do you think I should do the movie and would you play the guitar part?' So that sort of settled that. Johnny was right."

Later in the interview he went on to explain how he wanted to "bring guitar" back into the James Bond score.

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