Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult among stars who screen-tested for James Bond

Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult have screen-tested for the title role in Amazon MGM Studios' reboot of James Bond, according to a report published Thursday night by The Hollywood Reporter, which cited multiple unnamed sources. Deadline followed with its own reporting Friday, confirming Pattinson's test and adding Hoult to the pool of candidates. Neither studio nor any actor has commented publicly, and casting remains officially unresolved.

A widening shortlist

The two actors join three performers who had already been widely reported as finalists over the past two weeks: Callum Turner, Jack Lowden and Josh O'Connor. Trade reporting since late October described screen tests as having been held in and around London, with Pattinson's reported session coinciding with his work in the city on "The Batman Part II." Deadline's account put the maximum size of the current testing group at five, meaning Pattinson and Hoult's late entry has effectively displaced the earlier framing of a two- or three-man race between relatively unknown British actors.

Director Denis Villeneuve has a prior working relationship with Pattinson, who appears in Villeneuve's forthcoming "Dune: Part Three," due in theaters December 18. Hoult, for his part, was previously reported to have been among the names considered when Pattinson himself won the role of Batman. TMZ reported Friday morning that it had contacted Amazon MGM Studios for comment and received no response; CBR's write-up likewise noted that "no cast members have been officially confirmed at this point."

The sudden appearance of two established leading men is notable because the production had spent much of 2026 signaling the opposite intention. Casting director Nina Gold, known for her work on "Game of Thrones," was reported in the summer to be searching specifically for an unknown British actor in his late twenties or early thirties, and names such as Tom Francis surfaced in that context during auditions described as beginning months earlier. Pattinson, 40 next spring, and Hoult, who turned 36 this year, do not fit that original brief, which is part of why trade outlets framed their tests as a genuine surprise rather than a late confirmation of an open secret.

The role has not changed hands smoothly in the past. Daniel Craig, who held the part for five films over fifteen years before "No Time to Die" killed off the character in 2021, was himself a dark-horse pick in 2005 over actors considered more conventional choices at the time, and endured months of tabloid skepticism before his debut in "Casino Royale" reset expectations for the franchise. Villeneuve's film is a full reboot rather than a continuation of Craig's storyline, giving the studio latitude to recast Bond's age, nationality within the character's established British identity, and tone without reconciling it against "No Time to Die."

Who is actually making the decision

The screen tests are the latest step in a process Amazon MGM Studios set in motion after it took creative control of the 007 franchise from its longtime stewards. In a February 2025 announcement, the studio said it had formed a joint venture with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson under which the siblings remain co-owners of the Bond intellectual property while Amazon MGM Studios assumed creative control of future films, ending six decades in which every Bond director, writer and lead actor had been chosen directly by the Broccoli family dating back to Albert R. Broccoli's 1962 "Dr. No."

Villeneuve's hiring followed four months later. In the studio's announcement, Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said the studio felt fortunate to have secured a filmmaker of Villeneuve's stature for the franchise's next chapter.

"James Bond is in the hands of one of today's greatest filmmakers," Hopkins said in the studio's statement announcing Villeneuve's hiring.

Villeneuve, in the same release, called Bond "sacred territory" and said he intended to honor the character's tradition while charting new missions. Amazon MGM Studios subsequently named Amy Pascal and David Heyman, the producers behind the "Spider-Man" and "Harry Potter" franchises respectively, to produce through their Pascal Pictures and Heyday Films banners, and in a later release confirmed "Peaky Blinders" creator Steven Knight as screenwriter. Tanya Lapointe serves as an executive producer alongside Villeneuve. No plot details for the film, sometimes referred to informally as Bond 26, have been disclosed.

Who is affected and what happens next

The immediate stakes fall on the five actors named in the reporting, three of whom — Turner, Lowden and O'Connor — had been treated by fan communities and prediction markets as the likely front-runners before this week. A betting-style market tracked by Kalshi had shown Turner and Lowden roughly even in late October, with O'Connor trailing; that snapshot predates the new reporting on Pattinson and Hoult and should not be read as current. More broadly, the casting decision will shape how Amazon MGM Studios positions its highest-profile acquisition since absorbing MGM's library, at a moment when the studio is still establishing how hands-on it intends to be with a character whose previous steward resisted outside creative input for decades. For Pattinson and Hoult specifically, a casting decision either way carries little career risk: both have steady franchise and awards-adjacent work already lined up, and screen-testing for a role is a routine, often confidential, part of landing almost any studio lead, win or lose.

Producers had previously indicated they hoped to settle on a lead before the end of 2026, with production targeted for 2027 and a theatrical release floated for 2028, though Amazon MGM Studios has not set an official date. Trade reports this week suggested a decision could land as early as the Thanksgiving holiday, though that timeline, like the casting itself, has not been confirmed by the studio. Until Amazon MGM Studios or one of the actors speaks on the record, the screen-test reports stand as unconfirmed but increasingly corroborated trade reporting rather than settled fact.