'Slow Horses' Star Officially Clarifies James Bond Comments

Published Sep 11, 2026, 2:14 PM EDT

Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

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The road to finding the next James Bond is in its final stretch, and things are getting tense. Rumors were already flying left and right about who was in the running to play the legendary 007 in Denis Villeneuve's new film, but they soon went into overdrive when word of the official shortlist got out. Jack Barton, Jack Lowden, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal, and Harris Dickinson are all the names currently attached to the coveted role, with Barton believed by some insiders to be the favorite after emerging from a global search for lesser-known stars. However, the race quickly took another sharp turn when Gary Oldman spoke up.

The Oscar winner caused quite a stir over the weekend after an interview with Canadian broadcaster Global in which he addressed his Slow Horses co-star Lowden's chances and revealed he had heard the next Bond had already been decided upon. “It’s been rumored that he’s on the shortlist," he said. "We’re going to find out pretty soon, aren’t we? Because they have picked him. They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack.” How he phrased his response led to plenty of confusion over whether he meant Amazon MGM had their Bond, in general, or if he was specifically saying Lowden was the choice. From there, the headlines spread like wildfire.

Now, given the chance to clarify at a Visionaries session at the Toronto International Film Festival hosted by Josh Horowitz, Oldman asserted it was the former, all while joking about how he accidentally became the focus of global attention. "There’s six people on a shortlist," he said. "I heard a rumor that they’ve picked James Bond, but they haven’t announced it yet, which is their prerogative. So I do not know [who has got the part], but I’m hoping it’s Jack.” For the record, he added that had he actually possessed some "red phone" to contact the Bond team, he'd guard that secret with his life. After all, he already knows what it's like to accidentally leak some massive entertainment news after he "got in a lot of trouble" for revealing there would be a third film in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy.