Movies like Octopussy, Die Another Day, and Moonraker represent the long-running James Bond series at its most outlandish.

"Late 2026, at the ­earliest. Maybe 2027. Perhaps even 2028," said The Telegraph, citing the British film industry's "current best guesses". The franchise has "taken a similar hiatus before", such as the gap between 1989's "Licence to Kill" and 1995's "GoldenEye", starring Pierce Brosnan.

You’re reading this because you want to know about the next James Bond film: the one that will pick up where the Daniel Craig series left off, and introduce a brand new 007. But the above dates – the British film industry’s current best guesses as to when we’ll actually see the thing,

In the three years since the last James Bond film, fans have continued to speculate who will take over the iconic role from Daniel Craig. We investigate the top contenders to play 007.