#The Rock Puts Himself Forward as the Next James Bond

The search for the perfect actor to take over from Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond is no doubt underway following the release of No Time to Die, and now, an unexpected choice has emerged in the form of the action movie man-mountain that is Dwayne Johnson. The Rock, whose father portrayed a villain opposite Sean Connery in 1967’s You Only Live Twice, was recently asked whether he would like to follow in his old man’s footsteps, to which he asserted that yes, he would love to join the iconic franchise, but only if he can suit up as 007.

“Yes, my grandfather was a Bond villain in You Only Live Twice with Sean Connery. Very, very cool. I would like to follow in his footsteps and be the next Bond. I don’t want to be a villain. Gotta be Bond.”

Johnson’s father, Rocky Johnson, is credited in You Only Live Twice for portraying a villainous car driver, but The Rock wants more, much more, should he ever be enticed to the James Bond series. While the action movie superstar is likely just kidding about sipping martinis as the titular spy, The Rock’s dominance of Hollywood and in particular the action genre is undeniable, and with his influence so far-reaching and his presence so intimidating, if he wants the job, who is going to stop him? Ironically, that does make him sound like a villain, but by all accounts, he’s a really nice guy.

Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond has now come to an end, with his swansong No Time to Die having finally been released earlier this year following a cavalcade of delays. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga from a screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and starring Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, and Ana de Armas alongside Craig, the movie finds Bond having left active service with MI6, before being recruited by the CIA to find a kidnapped scientist, which leads to a showdown with a powerful adversary.

Producer Barbara Broccoli has since revealed that the studio would not begin looking for Craig’s replacement until next year saying, “We’re not thinking about it at all. We want Daniel to have his time of celebration. Next year we’ll start thinking about the future.” Despite this, fans cannot help but wonder who will be chosen, with the likes of Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Henry Cavill, and more recently Eternals star Richard Madden, just some of the favorites to take over.

Meanwhile, The Rock has more than enough on his plate without signing up for a license to kill, with the actor currently leading his own action-packed escapade in Netflix’s record-breaking Red Notice. Starring alongside Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, Red Notice finds Johnson as an FBI agent who reluctantly teams up with a renowned art thief (Ryan Reynolds) in order to catch an even more notorious criminal (Gal Gadot). Red Notice is now available on Netflix, and has achieved the best debut of any Netflix original film in the company’s history. This comes to us courtesy of Esquire.

Topics: James Bond