With the screen role of James Bond now vacant, following Daniel Craig’s departure from the iconic 007 spy franchise after the release of No Time to Die last fall, Tom Holland tried to pitch a new idea for the series. When Craig announced that he would be retiring his version of Bond, Holland suggested an origin story to Sony Pictures, which it turned down. The Spider-Man star shared the news during a recent interview with Total Film magazine.
Despite the fact that Sony rejected Holland’s idea for a James Bond prequel, the studio, which distributed the actor’s Spider-Man trilogy, wanted to work with him again on another adaptation. So they reunited for the upcoming video game adaptation, Uncharted, in which Holland plays protagonist Nate Drake, a young fortune hunter.
While discussing the studio’s rejection of his James Bond prequel idea, the performer said: “I had a meeting, after or during Spider-Man 2 [Spider Man: Far From Home], with Sony to pitch this idea of a young Bond film that I’d come up with,” he shared. “It was the origin story of James Bond. It didn’t really make sense. It didn’t work. It was the dream of a young kid, and I don’t think the Bond estate [was] particularly interested.”
Holland added that while Sony wasn’t interested in his idea for a James Bond origin story, his interest in making a prequel for a popular franchise character influenced the studio’s executives to move ahead with him as the star of the Uncharted screen adaptation. He explained, “The idea of a young Bond film sparked this idea, in turn, that you could do a Nathan Drake story as an origin story, rather than as an addition to the games. And that opened a conversation.”
Uncharted, which is based on the popular PlayStation video game franchise, was written by Rafe Judkins, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway. It will tell the story of Nathan Drake’s first treasure hunting adventure.
In addition to Holland playing Nathan Drake, Mark Wahlberg portrays Victor “Sully” Sullivan in Uncharted, which was directed by Venom helmer, Ruben Fleischer. The upcoming action film also stars Sophia Ali as the protagonist’s fellow treasure hunter and love interest, Chloe Frazer; Tati Gabrielle as Braddock; and Antonio Banderas as the drama’s villain. The upcoming adventure movie is scheduled to be released in the U.S. on February 18.
There’s no word yet who will replace Craig in the James Bond series. However, some actors who have reportedly been frontrunners to take on the role include Idris Elba, Henry Cavill and breakout Bridgerton star, Regé-Jean Page.