Accepting an honour for his contribution to cinema at the LACMA Art and Film Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 7, Denis Villeneuve closed his speech by thanking his 'new friends at Amazon' and announcing he would reveal the next James Bond — then cut himself off, saying he would 'stop right now because [producer] Amy Pascal is about to have a heart attack,' Yahoo News UK reports.

No name followed, and Amazon MGM Studios has not confirmed any casting.

Tbreak reports the joke 'briefly stopped the room,' playing on the intense speculation around Bond 26, the first film under Amazon MGM's full control after longtime producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson stepped down in 2025.

The moment landed because Villeneuve had just told reporters he could not say anything. Yahoo News UK reports that on the red carpet he told Variety he should not comment because 'every word I'm going to say is going to be scrutinised,' adding only that he is 'having a great time.'

Tbreak frames the speech as a deliberate contrast: the director also argued that making films with real people matters more than generating them from an AI prompt, saying the process is where human experience acquires meaning and calling that the heritage he wants to leave his children.

Nearly naming 007 — and refusing — was the punchline to a night about secrecy and craft.

According to Yahoo News UK, reports last week put Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult in the race after screen tests, joining rumoured frontrunners Jack Lowden, Josh O'Connor and Callum Turner to succeed Daniel Craig, who left the series after 2021's No Time to Die.

Yahoo News UK also reports that The Sun recently claimed O'Connor had secured the role after final-stage negotiations with Amazon MGM Studios, based on a castmate of his Islington play Golden Boy allegedly blurring the news out after 'a few glasses of lager' in a Soho pub — an account the source admits could be pure speculation.

Producer Amy Pascal has told Deadline, per Yahoo News UK, that the new 007 will be revealed by the end of 2026: 'I would say the end of the year is a good bet. We are being really, really methodical.'

Bond 26 is due in 2028, directed by Villeneuve with a screenplay by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and Pascal and David Heyman producing, Tbreak reports.

Until an official announcement, casting rumours will keep circulating; the sure date on Villeneuve's calendar is Dune: Part Three, which Tbreak says reaches cinemas on 18 December 2026.