The next James Bond film still has no Bond, no title and no shooting date, but it does have a director who calls 007 “sacred territory.” Denis Villeneuve, the Quebec-born filmmaker behind the Dune films and Arrival, which just turned 10 with eight Oscar nominations to its name, is making the 26th official Bond movie for Amazon MGM Studios, and with his Dune: Part Three due in December, his name is climbing searches across Canada again.
So what is actually locked in? Here is the confirmed team, taken from Amazon MGM’s own announcement and the public record, with the rumours kept separate.
Confirmed: the people making Bond 26
- Director: Denis Villeneuve, announced by Amazon MGM Studios in June 2025.
- Writer: Steven Knight, the Birmingham-born creator of Peaky Blinders, who Amazon MGM says will write the script.
- Producers: Amy Pascal, through Pascal Pictures, and David Heyman, through Heyday Films.
- Executive producer: Tanya Lapointe, Villeneuve’s wife and longtime producing partner.
- Studio: Amazon MGM Studios, which took creative control of the Bond rights under a joint venture with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson closed in March 2025.
That last point is the biggest change in the franchise’s 60-plus years. Since Dr. No in 1962, Bond films were made by Eon Productions under the Broccoli family, with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson co-producing the series from 1995. Amazon bought MGM in 2022, and the 2025 deal handed it the creative keys.
Villeneuve in his own words
When his hiring was announced, Villeneuve framed it as a childhood dream. “I grew up watching James Bond films with my father, ever since Dr. No with Sean Connery. I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory. I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come,” he said.
It is not his first brush with 007. Villeneuve was previously offered No Time to Die, Daniel Craig’s final outing, and turned it down to make Dune.
Knight’s track record
Amazon MGM’s announcement leans on Knight’s résumé: besides Peaky Blinders, he created Taboo and See, wrote Eastern Promises and Spencer, earned an Oscar nomination for his first produced screenplay, Dirty Pretty Things, and co-created the quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Fans of his gangster saga can catch up on where every Peaky Blinders season is streaming and the sequel plans.
Rumour, not fact: who plays Bond
No actor has been announced. Recent casting chatter has linked names such as Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult to the role, but those claims come from reports, not from the studio, as we covered in our look at the latest Bond casting reports. Until Amazon MGM names someone, every name is a guess.
The long wait, by the numbers
Villeneuve’s Bond is expected in 2028. No Time to Die reached cinemas in 2021, so a 2028 release would mean a seven-year gap between films. The longest break the series has had so far was six years, between 1989 and 1995, when Licence to Kill gave way to Pierce Brosnan’s GoldenEye. If the 2028 target holds, Bond 26 would set a new record for the wait.
Villeneuve’s immediate focus is closer to home. Dune: Part Three, his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah, opens in US theaters on December 18, 2026.
Further reading
Image: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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