Should Jonah Hill Be the Next Bond?

As we approach Bond 25, British papers circulated rumors that Richard Madden, best known for playing Robb Stark on Game of Thrones, would be named the next Bond. (The Bond that Was Promised, perhaps? I’ll show myself out). This rumor, while potent, has already been somewhat diffused; Bond 25, as the next Bond is temporarily titled, isn’t out until 2020. Making any kind of Bond replacement announcement would be counter-productive to the promotion of Bond 25.

But even as Idris Elba finally quashed his own Bond rumors, it remains apparent that the question of “who should be the next Bond?” still revs up the collective cultural imagination. And who better to capitalize on that very imagination than California-born actor Jonah Hill?

Here’s how I see it: The most valuable demo right now is the young male demo—18 to 24 if you want to call it that, but I’m thinking younger than that, too—and brands of all kinds are rearranging their core philosophies to find ways to engage these young fellows. To aspirant hypebeasts, Hill is an icon; even though scumbro culture took a big hit when Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande broke up, Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s got largely positive reviews and also featured a Del tha Funkee Homosapien song (which is so random but also so ’90s!).

If you’re in the director’s chair for Bonds of the future, positioning Bond as friendly and inviting to this younger demo is a must. The new Bond has to be as comfortable rocking a Palace Skateboards eight-panel as he is a Tom Ford three-piece. (Maybe Bond passes up his signature Manhattan… so he can vape instead! Just spitballing here, I think a lot of things can fit.) Plus, recent turns as a somewhat-bumbling and overdressed but ultimately suave rich kid-type in Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Maniac might as well be a screen test for the Millennial Bond character Hill is destined to inherit. Fukunaga is directing the new Bond, so they’ve already worked together once. Can I be more obvious here?!

Generally, Hill should be up for more franchise pillar parts within our landscape of Extended Cinematic Universes. A few weeks ago, many outlets reported that Henry Cavill would not be reprising his role as Superman in forthcoming movies from Warner Brothers. So we polled our audience on who they might like to see step into the Superman franchise:

I think it’s safe to say that our audience has a “bad case of the Jonahs”—maybe even a Superbad case am I right! I hope you guys are still reading this.

Point being, Bond is a great role for Hill and basically a no-brainer if you’re going to get the Creator Generation in the mix with the excessively Boomer-y Bond. Mr. Fukunaga, flip that switch!