Bridgerton Star Rege-Jean Page Now New Favorite To Become Next James Bond

Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page-Jean Page is currently the betting odds favorite to become the next James Bond. The infamous "Bond odds" see bookies producing regularly updated odds on which actor will next take on the James Bond role after Daniel Craig's final performance as 007 in No Time To Die this fall. Thanks to Internet rumor Venom star Tom Hardy has been the longtime betting odds favorite to play Bond after Craig; now that Netflix's Bridgerton has made him an international star, Regé-Jean Page-Jean Page has managed to edge out Hardy to take the top spot for who is the most likely bet for the next James Bond.

Back in May, it was said that Regé-Jean Page-Jean Page was one of two British actors threatening to knock Tom Hardy out of the top spot of potential James Bond successors; the other was McMafia star, James Norton. Clearly, Page won that contest, but his lead is far from guaranteed to hold. In addition to Hardy and Norton threatening to overtake Page at any turn, there's also The Hobbit star Luke Evans who is just a step away from challenging the leading trio in Bond odds. Then there's Superman and The Witcher actor Henry Cavill, who also has good momentum in the Bond odds, even if it's not as much as the aforementioned actors. Finally, Idris Elba is still also in the running, despite the fact that the actor has been somewhat over the fan-casting and/or race debates about Bond, for some time now.

Many James Bond fans thought the debate about who would be the next James Bond would've been settled by now. No Time to Die, the 25th Bond film, was supposed to hit theaters in the fall of 2019 but got delayed when director Danny Boyle left the film. It was moved to April 2020, which landed it smack-dab in the initial wave of lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Had any of those plans stayed on track, MGM and Eon Productions would've had to have Craig's successor lined up in order to announce the next era of the franchise - and yet, here we are now, in summer 2021, still taking bets on it.

While No Time to Die has waited to get into theaters, the entire lay of the land has changed. MGM got purchased by Amazon, which means the Bond franchise now belongs to Amazon. The larger implications of that acquisition are still coming to light, but it could very well affect who does, in fact, get cast as the next Bond. A star like Regé-Jean Page (a bi-racial actor with a suave bad boy persona) ticks a lot of boxes.

The next James Bond movie No Time to Die will hit theaters on October 8th. It will be interesting to see how quickly it goes to Prime Video after that.