Could Omega’s signing of Aaron Taylor-Johnson as an ambassador confirm him as James Bond?
Jamie WeissEven before 2021’s No Time to Die was released – the twenty-fifth James Bond film, and the fifth and final to star Daniel Craig as 007 – it seemed that we journalists were speculating wildly about who would replace Craig as the world’s most famous fictional spy. Four years later, and it seems we’re no closer to an answer… Or are we? This is where being passingly familiar with the machinations of the watch world can be very helpful, with a fresh Omega signing suggesting that we might finally know who’s taking up the mantle.
Earlier this year in February, Man of Steel and The Witcher star Henry Cavill, who was widely tipped to be a frontrunner for the Bond role, was confirmed as Longines’ latest “Ambassador of Elegance”. As our US Editor Zach Blass wrote at the time, this probably meant that Cavill was out of the running as James Bond, as any 007 actor would be beholden to Omega – although personally, I think his undercooked appearances in cheesier spy flicks Argylle (2024) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) probably sealed the deal long ago.
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But I digress. In the last few days, another English actor who’s also been one of the most widely-tipped names to be the next James Bond, Aaron Taylor-Johnson – who you might know from Bullet Train (2022) or Nocturnal Animals (2016) – has just been confirmed as Omega’s latest brand ambassador, with the star marking the occasion with a trip to Omega’s manufacture in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Again, to the average punter, this seems like very corporate news or inside baseball… But we reckon this all but confirms that Taylor-Johnson will be the next Bond.
You might be asking yourself why an Omega ambassadorship is such a strong positive sign when this has seemed like a foregone conclusion for yonks? For context, in March last year, The Sun and Time both reported that Taylor-Johnson had been offered the role by Eon Productions and they were just waiting for him to sign on the dotted line. However, in February this year, Eon’s owners/producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced the formation of a joint venture with Amazon MGM Studios that has handed over full creative control of the franchise to the latter.
This deal has left the future of the Bond franchise somewhat uncertain: there’s a world in which Amazon, for instance, might not have wanted Aaron Taylor-Johnson as 007. However, the likelihood of Omega relinquishing its partnership with the highly successful movie franchise (or Amazon interfering with that long-standing relationship) is next to nil. James Bond and Omega have become inseparable, so to see Taylor-Johnson get anointed by Omega suggests that the wheels that were in motion are continuing to turn, and his confirmation as James Bond is imminent. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a done deal.
Taylor-Johnson also just makes sense as Bond. Not only does he have the looks, charm and acting chops to do the role justice, he’s the right age: the talk has been that they’re looking for a younger Bond, and he’s 34 (Cavill, for comparison, is 42). Daniel Craig was 38 when he starred in his first Bond film, 2006’s Casino Royale, and he played Bond for 15 years. It’s a role you tend to play for well over a decade, so Taylor-Johnson fits the bill.
Of course, there’s another Omega ambassador who’s been on the books for a while that has also been tipped to play Bond: Eddie Redmayne, who was absolutely spectacular as the eponymous assassin in the TV series The Day of the Jackal (2024). However, at 43, Redmayne is probably a little too old to play 007, and has also poured water recently on the prospect of him playing the secret agent.
Nope, I think Aaron Taylor-Johnson is far more likely. At the very least, Omega has secured a dashing new wrist model – and kept the Bond hype train chugging along…