'They should cast Jack': Danny Boyle names his pick for the next James Bond

Jack O’Connell’s name has been mentioned as a possible Bond contender during the audition process, but has not been elevated to frontrunner status like Jack Lowden, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi and Jack Barton. Now, ex-Bond director Danny Boyle has named O'Connell as his ideal pick for the new 007.

Once upon a time, Danny Boyle was set to direct Daniel Craig’s swansong as James Bond.

The Oscar-winning British director behind Trainspotting , Slumdog Millionaire and the upcoming Rupert Murdoch biopic Ink , was originally set to direct 2021’s No Time To Die before exiting due to alleged creative differences. He was ultimately replaced by Beasts Of No Nation filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga.

“When they asked me to do Bond, we came up with the story [with John Hodge] and they lost confidence in it,” he said at the Zurich Film Festival. “It’s a shame, because it could have been really good.”

The Bond-helmer-we-never-got also weighed in on who he thinks should be the next 007, naming British actor Jack O’Connell as his choice to replace Daniel Craig.

“They should cast Jack O’Connell as Bond,” he said at the festival, per Variety , before praising O’Connell’s performance in the 2024 Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black and as infamous British tabloid editor Larry Lamb in Ink .

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