Hardy the new favourite to land James Bond role

With the hunt for Daniel Craig’s replacement as James Bond already underway Tom Hardy has emerged as the new 3/1 favourite with Ladbrokes to play the secret agent.

Although current star Craig still has two movies left to run on his deal as the English spy, studio chiefs are said to be searching for the next in a long line of 007s with the 45-year-old unlikely to renew his deal.

Rumours have started to circulate that MGM and Sony have already approach The Dark Knight Rises star about the part and it is no secret the 36-year-old would be keen on the role.

Back in March, the actor revealed: “I’d love to play Bond with Chris Nolan as director or something, it’d be awesome.”

With Skyfall, the 23rd edition of the Bond films, proving such a hit at UK cinemas franchise is still huge with cinema audiences.

The 2012 film, directed by Sam Mendes, was the highest grossing movie in UK cinema history bringing in more than $1 billion worldwide.

X-Men star Michael Fassbender, who is hotly tipped to win an Oscar for his role in 12 Years a Slave, is another name that has been linked with the name Bond…James Bond.

The Inglorious Basterds actor has played down reports he is a candidate for the part but remains at 6/1 to land the role and follow in the footsteps of names like Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan.

Elsewhere, former England captain David Beckham is 200/1 to turn the Ian Fleming-created character into a dead-ball specialist and former World Heavyweight champion David Haye, who is rumoured to have retired from boxing following injury, is 100/1 to be throwing punches out of the ring and in the role of the Aston Martin-driving secret agent.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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