Saoirse Ronan wants to be the next Bond villain as husband Jack Lowden is rumoured to play 007

Saoirse Ronan recently revealed that she wants to play a villain in the next James Bond film, and the timing is especially interesting because her husband, Jack Lowden, is now being rumoured to be playing the role of 007.

The four-time Oscar-nominated actress has once again said she wants to play a Bond villain. And this time, she is making it very clear that she is serious about it.

“I want to go dark. I said that I wanted to be a Bond villain and I’m dead serious,” Ronan told Empire.

Ronan doesn’t just want to be another Bond love interest

“I think it would be really interesting, having a young female villain,” Saoirse Ronan said. “Especially for girls and women, to see someone who can just take all that pent-up anger and direct it somewhere. There’s something interesting in that dramatically. So I would love to do more of that.”

Ronan has spoken about the idea before, and why the role appeals to her. In a 2024 interview with Vanity Fair, she said she liked the idea of a female villain who has her own reason for going after Bond, rather than simply becoming romantically involved with him.

“There’s a lot to unpack there, you know? There’s a lot to work on, which I like,” Ronan said. “But that is what I do like about something like Bond in general, is that the characters are very interesting. And I do think there’s something kind of cool about having a female villain who wants to take him down and doesn’t just want to fall in love with him.”

Her husband Jack Lowden is rumoured to be the next Bond

Ronan’s husband Jack Lowden is also one of the actors being linked to the role of 007. He is best known for playing River Cartwright in Slow Horses. He has reportedly moved up the bookmakers’ lists of potential replacements for Daniel Craig.

Earlier this month, Richard Osman said in The Rest Is Entertainment podcast that sources had told him Lowden was being “strongly considered” for the role as the Bond auditions moved into their final stages.

The actor is also reportedly someone casting director Nina Gold has had her eye on since the search for the next 007 began. Gold previously cast Lowden as River Cartwright in Slow Horses.

Nothing has been officially confirmed, though. Amazon MGM Studios has not announced who will play Bond, and Ronan has not been announced as the villain either.

But if Lowden does become 007 and Ronan is cast as the villain, they would become the first married couple to play opposite each other in a James Bond film. It would also be their second project together. They first worked together on Mary Queen of Scots in 2018.

They reportedly married in Edinburgh in July 2024 and welcomed their first child the following year.

Meanwhile, Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner and Harris Dickinson have all been rumoured to be in the running for the next Bond. But former Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams has already told The Independent that she wouldn’t choose some of those names.

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