Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Wants To Be The Next James Bond

Pro wrestling star turned actor Dwayne Johnson is looking to add another role to his career: to play secret agent 007. No Time To Die marked Daniel Craig's final performance as 007 in the James Bond franchise, so it looks like The Rock could have his wishes granted. The 53-year-old Craig has been the face of 007 since 2006, when he played James Bond in Casino Royale, reports The New York Post. What's interesting to note is that Johnson's grandfather Peter Maivia actually played a Bond villain in the 1967's You Only Live Twice.

Speaking to Esquire about taking up the mantle of playing the legendary character from Craig, the 49-year-old shared, "I would like to follow in his footsteps and be the next Bond." He added with a grin, "I don't want to be a villain. You gotta be Bond." Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the longtime custodians of the Bond franchise, previously told the outlet that they weren't in a hurry to find Craig's replacement just yet. "Oh, God no. We're not thinking about it at all. We want Daniel to have his time of celebration. Next year we'll start thinking about the future," Broccoli shared.

If The Rock were to take up the role, he would become the ninth actor to play the MI6 secret agent. There have been quite a few other candidates to take up Craig's role. Pierce Brosnan, a former Bond himself, thought Tom Hardy would make a good fit. "I think Tom Hardy could be a good Bond," Brosnan said, as per The Telegraph. "I'd be happy to see him do it. You need an actor who can put a bit of wiggle into it—that's what makes Bond."

According to Buzzfeed, the list for replacements also included actors like Bridgerton's Regé-Jean Page and Lashana Lynch, who starred alongside Daniel in No Time To Die. People have been hoping for Idris Elba to step into the role for some time.

In 2019, the actor himself opened up to Vanity Fair about the concerns of being the franchise's first Black Bond. "You just get disheartened when you get people from a generational point of view going, 'It can't be.' And it really turns out to be the color of my skin. And then if I get it and it didn't work, or it did work, would it be because of the color of my skin? That's a difficult position to put myself into when I don't need to. James Bond is a hugely coveted, iconic, beloved character that takes audiences on this massive escapism journey. Of course, if someone said to me, 'Do you want to play James Bond?' I'd be like, Yeah! That's fascinating to me. But it's not something I've expressed, like, 'yeah, I wanna be the black James Bond.'"