Last week, there were so many rumors circulating about the James Bond franchise and the months-long casting process. It’s been pretty much confirmed that Jacob Elordi is out of the running for 007, but that Callum Turner, Josh O’Connell and Jack Lowden were all coming in for screen tests. There were also rumors that a “mystery actor” was coming in for a screen test and that this actor’s name had not appeared on any shortlists. Well, there’s a theory and a growing body of evidence that the mystery actor might be… Joe Alwyn!?!

James Bond fans are claiming they’ve figured out the identity of the ‘mystery’ actor who has joined Callum Turner and Jack Lowden in the 007 auditions. After years of rumours and speculation, it was revealed over the weekend that a final shortlist of stars were performing screen tests at Bray Studios. Turner kicked off the auditions on Friday and on Saturday a mystery star was seen leaving the auditions.

Bond sleuths have flooded social media with theories about who the unnamed actor could be, and one name that has appeared multiple times is Joe Alwyn. The actor has previously appeared in Conversations With Friends, The Brutalist, and Hamnet – and fans have said it would ‘make sense’ if he was the unnamed star.

One social media user wrote: ‘I can’t think of any other reason why they would hide the actor, Joe has a good reason tho to be hidden tho. Nina Gold one of the casting directors knows Joe really well, she’s known him from drama school and casts him in his first film as well as now. Making the actor hidden because that’s the most likely to be confirmed bond I don’t think is the case as why would they announce the other three if they already know who it’s likely to be.’

The post, which was shared on Reddit, then sparked a sea of responses agreeing with the theory. They included: ‘Never thought about him as a contender before, but it makes sense; He is supposed to be filming in NYC for a Rom com, but was in London this week for a friend’s wedding and potentially this audition.’

Screen tests were said to be taking place throughout this weekend, with between three and five actors understood to have reached the last stages of the process. A source told the Daily Mail: ‘Daniel Craig’s replacement has been years in the making and Callum was called today [Friday] to have his chance to impress the bosses. The next three days are going to be very interesting indeed.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I don’t have anything against Alwyn as an actor or a person, but if he’s the mystery actor, I am worried about the Bond franchise. I mean… THIS is the shortlist? Alwyn, O’Connor, Lowden and Turner? Not to parrot right-wing talking points, but maybe there is a masculinity crisis? No offense to Lowden, who is probably the most overtly masculine one out of this list. Like, we’re trying to cast someone to play JAMES BOND, this is not an art film where a guy cries after staring at a tulip for too long.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images and Instar.