With Daniel Craig stepping down from the role, producer Barbara Broccoli has said that the new James Bond will not be discussed until sometime in 2022.
Craig plays the role for the fifth and last time in new Bond movie No Time to Die, which is due in cinemas this Friday, and speculation about who will take over the role has been mounting again.
Betting company William Hill's favourites are Tom Hardy, Regé-Jean Page, James Norton, Luke Evans, Idris Elba, and Henry Cavill.
However, speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today show, Broccoli said that Bond producers hadn’t yet begun to look at who will replace Craig.
"We’re not thinking about it at all. We want Daniel to have his time of celebration," she said. "Next year we’ll start thinking about the future."
Co-producer Michael G. Wilson Wilson said of Craig, "He’s been such a great Bond. Those are big shoes to fill. I can’t even [think if it’s] possible."
Broccoli also praised Daniel Craig, calling him a "tremendous actor", adding, "We’re very, very lucky to get him to play this role.
"We could see he was reluctant to do it, because he knew it would change his life, which it obviously has. It’s changed his life, but it hasn’t changed him.
"What he’s enabled us to do with the franchise is really explore the emotional life of Bond and go into the person and complexity and conflicts that happen within the Bond character."
Cary Joji Fukunaga directed No Time to Die, and it sees Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, and Ralph Fiennes returning, alongside new faces Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, and Billy Magnussen.
