It's looking like Tom Hardy is still leading the way with bookies to be cast as the next James Bond, though the two runners-up have seen considerable improvements since last month. According to betting aggregators US-Bookies.com, Idris Elba improved from 18/1 (5.3% implied probability) to 11/2 (15.4%), while Henry Cavill improved from 16/1 (5.9%) to 6/1 (14.3%). Hardy remains the 3/1 favorite (25%).

“Idris Elba and Henry Cavill have been on fans’ and bookies' radars for some time, but their recent improvements come at a time when the Bond producers mentioned wanting the next star to be a British male of any ethnicity,” says a US-Bookies spokesperson. “However, at the same time that Elba and Cavill improved, Richard Madden and Tom Hopper saw their odds move in the opposite direction.”

Richard Madden’s odds to take over the James Bond role worsened from 6/1 (14.3% implied probability) to 9/1 (10%). He now trails Regé-Jean Page, whose odds have remained at 8/1 (11.1%) since last month. Tom Hopper’s odds also weakened from 11/2 (15.4%) to 12/1 (7.7%).

“Tom Hopper was the favorite to be the next James Bond as recently as October, when a sharp increase in bets caused the Umbrella Academy star’s odds to surge," adds US-Bookies.com's spokesperson. “However, that rise appears to be short-lived, as Hopper’s odds now put him behind Jamie Bell and James Norton.”

A few other names included in the betting odds are Sam Heughan, Mahershala Ali, and Justin Hartley. It doesn't appear that the bookies consider Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's odds of getting cast very high at all, as he's not even listed. Just recently, Johnson had expressed his interest in joining the franchise, as his grandfather previously appeared in a Bond movie, but The Rock was only interested in coming into the fray if he could play the superspy himself.

In any case, while there have been rumblings that the preliminary discussions for casting the next James Bond have begun, we're not likely to hear anything official until sometime in 2022 at the earliest. Producer Barbara Broccoli has suggested that no big news will be shared on that front until at least 2022. This allows Daniel Craig a bit more time to enjoy his sendoff as James Bond before the franchise gets rebooted with another actor slipping into the tuxedo.

“I thought that was it. And I’m really, really happy that I was given the opportunity to come back and do [No Time to Die],” Craig said on The Graham Norton Show, “because we’ve sort of wrapped up a lot of the stories. And just a chance to come do one more was wonderful.”

He added, "It’s been incredible to do these films. It’s very emotional. I’m glad I am ending it on my own terms. I’m grateful to the producers for letting me do that. But I sure miss it. I’ll probably be incredibly bitter when the new person takes over.”

Until a replacement is formally announced, all we can do for now is speculate. The bookies are clearly leaning toward Tom Hardy getting the casting, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's what's going to happen. This comes to us from US-Bookies.com.