Agent 007 is celebrating his 60th birthday. What’s next?

A window into history

The first James Bond film, Dr. No, was made in 1962 by Terence Young. Although the film made the least money in the entire saga, it began an era of a new film genre.

Spy thrillers had been on the fringes until then. Big dramas dominated the cinemas, and action films were considered by critics to be children's entertainment. But the million-dollar budget film changed everything, and the next installments didn't wait.

The end of an era

But let's return to the present. Last year, the era of actor Daniel Craig came to an end. He bid farewell to the role in grand style. After a lukewarm episode of Spectre, he took his role a step further and showed the human side of the lead.

The humanization of James Bond is a change that accompanies all Daniel Craig movies. While his predecessor Pierce Brosnan was performing breakneck stunts full of digital effects on screen, Craig's Bond straightens out his broken bones and shows in the finale that he is not immortal.

This leaves many film fans wondering what's next for James Bond. Conspiracies about a new actor abound on all sides, along with speculation about the possible direction of the 60-year-old film saga.

James Bond in skirts

A woman in the lead role is one of the biggest conspiracies. But the fans themselves are to blame for this one. There was never any talk of a female lead from the production side and it was refuted by Daniel Craig and the film's producer Barbara Broccoli.

According to both of them, a strong female character would be more suited to the film than a violent gender reassignment of James Bond. After all, a woman as Agent 007 (not James Bond) appeared in the last film, No Time to Die.

Many candidates for one role

Sticking to the canon and a male James Bond seems more likely. Even in this case, however, there are queues for the role.

Tom Hardy and Henry Cavill have been mentioned as possible candidates. Both represent the muscular Bond with a masculine side and have experience in action roles. They would follow in the footsteps of their predecessor Daniel Craig

The hottest candidate, however, is Idris Elba. It would be the first dark-skinned Bond. Elba himself admitted the conspiracy theories last year when he posted a provocative message on Twitter reading "My name is Elba, Idris Elba."