Richard Madden has emerged as the surprise favourite to replace Daniel Craig as 007 following his acclaimed performance in the BBC's Bodyguard.
For his part, Madden revealed last year that he is ‘flattered’ by the speculation but played down his chances. “Everyone just loves the rumour mill on that topic,” he said. “I’m just the current one. There’ll be a different one next week.”
But he may know more than he lets on. According to the Mail, an unnamed producer of Bodyguard says another season could be threatened by Madden’s chances of nabbing the iconic role.
“We don’t know if Richard will do series two.
“It depends what happens with James Bond, we don’t know yet.”
It was reported in October that Bond boss Barbara Broccoli considers Madden her favourite to take over from Daniel Craig.
It won’t come as a surprise to Bodyguard director Jed Mercurio, who predicted that Madden’s popularity could prove a problem for the show’s future.
“He’s the genuine article, a real leading man,” Mercurio said.
“And I think this role has put him very much in the spotlight for bigger things. So the practicality may be that we have to work round his availability, if we are lucky enough to get him back.”
