Streaming giants in tug of war over Scots star Jack Lowden tipped as next James Bond
Slow Horses actor among riders and runners to succeed Daniel Craig
He is the Scots star of one of the decade’s breakout television shows, who is tipped as one of the favourites to inherit Daniel Craig’s licence to kill.
But two of the world’s biggest streaming services are reportedly at loggerheads over the future of Jack Lowden, amid a row over whether he can play two leading spy roles simultaneously.
The 36 year-old, who has been nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe award for his turn as MI5 agent River Cartright in the Apple TV series, Slow Horses, is among the frontrunners to become the next James Bond.
The casting process to find the next 007 got underway earlier this year, with Amazon MGM Studios - which took over full creative control of the franchise last year - pledging to announce more news when “the time is right.”
However, any attempt to lure Lowden to play Ian Fleming’s iconic, suave special agent - a move that would see him become only the second Scot to star as Bond after the late Sean Connery - looks set to be complicated by a stand off between the two tech giants.
According to reports, Lowden is “highly rated” by Amazon executives, but there are doubts over whether the company and Apple would allow him to star as Bond while continuing his role as Cartright.
One source told the Mail on Sunday: “It is literally impossible for an actor to play two British spies almost simultaneously. You can't have two franchises and two spies but just one face.
“Jack is very much in the conversation and there are people who think he would make a fantastic Bond. But the elephant in the room is Slow Horses. Amazon wants its Bond but Apple already has its spy.”
Despite the apparent clash between the firms, Lowden is still one of the favourites with bookmakers to be the seventh actor to play Bond on film, with some offering odds of 5/2.
Lowden, who grew up in the Scottish Borders village of Oxton, studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He won acclaim for his performance in the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Black Watch and successfully moved into television and film.
His big screen roles have included Mary Queen of Scots alongside Saoirse Ronan, whom he later married, and Benediction, as the war poet Siegfried Sassoon.
The race to become the next 007 has reportedly been whittled down to a final four, with the remaining contenders already put through their paces at Pinewood Studios. They are understood to have reached an advanced development stage in the search for Craig's successor, undergoing extensive tests.
While it is not known who the four are, other actors in the mix are said to include Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner, Paul Mescal, Jack O'Connell and Harris Dickinson, as well as Jack Barton, who has enjoyed breakout success thanks toNetflix's coming of age drama, Heartstopper.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.