Next James Bond odds: Former No 1 favourite Tom Hardy faces CRUSHING blow – What happened?

The Venom star was the bookies’ favourite to be James Bond just a couple of years ago. Tom Hardy was in a two-horse race with McMafia’s James Norton, who remains the favourite to replace Daniel Craig after No Time To Die with odds of 7-2. However, Hardy has now slipped into fifth place in the pecking order. According to Ladbrokes, Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden is on 4-1 and Marvel’s Tom Hiddleston is at 5-1.

Next up is Peaky Blinders’ Cillian Murphy on 6-1 with Luther’s Idris Elba.

While former No 1 favourite Hardy is way behind on 7-1, so what’s going on?

Well, it may have something to do with the fact that the 41-year-old hasn’t made a movie in ages.

Hardy’s last film, Venom, came out almost a year ago, while his latest movie, Fonzo, where he plays an ageing Al Capone, is yet to get a release date. 

So no doubt he’ll jump up the odds again when he’s more in the public eye.

In comparison, the men ahead of Hardy have had more recent projects, so have been in the news and betters’ minds lately.

READ MORE: FEMALE JAMES BOND BACK BY DANIEL CRAIG AND PIERCE BROSNAN

For example, Cillian Murphy has a new series of Peaky Blinders out and has been asked about Bond again.

In fact, he’s ruled himself out of replacing Daniel Craig, which may have had a reverse effect.

Speaking with The Guardian, the 43-year-old said: “The thing about it is, if you say anything about Bond it becomes the headline, right? There’s two things I’ll say about that.”

“Firstly, there’s a whole other industry which is completely separate from the film side of things, and that’s the bookies.

“The second thing I’d say is that I think it should be a woman, which rules me out.”