Celebrity Odds – Daniel Craig not Done with 007?

James Bond never goes away and neither do the rumors of which actor will play him next.

There were whispers that Daniel Craig was no longer going to drink the shaken-not-stirred martini; but lo and behold, we may have jumped the gun in our last Bond update. Apparently, the news of his demise has been greatly exaggerated.

The competition for the job seemed like it was wide open when Craig made comments about being done with the franchise. But he now says his comments were taken out of context.

I’m not sure how, “I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists than do another Bond movie,” could be taken any other way, though, so maybe he’s just had a change of heart.

Whether he wants to play Bond again or not, there is the small matter of the television series Purity that Craig is currently attached to. Filming Purity will make it tough for Craig to film a new Bond movie for Sony’s targeted 2018 release. However, with director Sam Mendes jumping ship, Sony might not get anything completed until 2019 either way. That gives Craig plenty of time to rethink (a) his disdain for wearing tuxedos and driving Aston Martins, and (b) how much he likes big trucks full of money pulling up to his door.

Since Craig is still in the mix, we have to reboot our Bond odds to include him. Many of the prior favorites are still hanging around the rumor mill, and they’ve been joined by Craig and a few newbies.

The two Toms, Hiddleston and Hardy, have both caused bookies to suspend bets this year, but Aidan Turner (who played Kili in The Hobbit) is now the frontrunner with British tabloids spouting off about how a deal is pretty much done. Take that with a grain of salt because British tabloids straight up lie … a lot.

Also, let’s not forget about this Hollywood trend of casting women in roles that were previously dominated by men. Gillian Anderson (X-Files) has thrown her hat into the ring.  I think a lady 007 would be fun, but I’m not sure producers are willing to risk the backlash from disgruntled (if sexist) fans.

So let’s take a look at what actors are first in the queue to get their License to Kill, who will Die Another Day, and who’s Skyfallen down the ranks.

Odds to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond (as of August 2016)

Aidan Turner: 2/1

James Norton: 3/1

Jack Huston: 3/1

Tom Hiddleston: 6/1

Colin Salmon: 9/1

Tom Hardy: 10/1

Idris Elba: 15/1

Damian Lewis: 20/1

Henry Cavill: 25/1

Michael Fassbender: 35/1

Jamie Bell: 40/1

Gillian Anderson: 99/1

Odds Daniel Craig returns to the role: 3/2

Feature Photo: By www.GlynLowe.com from Hamburg, Germany [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons