Jack Lowden has spent years being asked the same question. Will he be the next James Bond? The Slow Horses star has never given a straight yes or no. What he did give, back in 2022, was a line so simple and so perfectly timed that it still explains more about the Bond question than any official statement ever could.
“Slough House is MI5, though, not MI6 – strictly domestic,” Lowden told British Vogue in an interview published in May 2022 . The actor delivered the line with the kind of dry, deadpan tone that has become his trademark. It was not a rejection of Bond. It was not a confirmation either. It was a geography lesson, delivered with a smile.
That single sentence has followed Lowden ever since. As 2026 draws to a close and Bond speculation reaches a new peak, the quote reads less like a throwaway remark and more like the most honest answer the actor has ever given about the role.
Why the MI5 vs MI6 Difference Actually Matters
The distinction is not just a technicality. Slow Horses is based on Mick Herron’s Slough House novels, a series about disgraced MI5 agents exiled to a crumbling office building under the management of Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb . These are spies who operate on British soil. Their work is bureaucratic, grimy and deeply domestic. Lowden’s character, River Cartwright, botched a training exercise and now spends his days in administrative purgatory .
Bond, by contrast, belongs to MI6. He flies to exotic locations, wears tailored suits and saves the world on a regular basis. The worlds could not be further apart. Lowden understood that better than anyone.
“It’s MI5 so it’s very domestic, and it’s in that world of civil service that has a mundane everydayness, I imagine,” Lowden told British GQ in April 2022, brushing off Bond parallels with the same calm logic .
The actor did not stop there. In the same Vogue interview, he acknowledged the shadow Daniel Craig had cast over the role. “It’s going to take a long time to get him out of my head. Or anybody else’s,” Lowden said . He then added a thought that felt like a small wink to the audience: “Someone new will eventually slip into the Brioni tux, though… and wasn’t the best Bond Scottish?” . Sean Connery was Scottish. Lowden is Scottish. The connection was not lost on anyone.
The Bond Rumors Never Really Went Away
The Vogue interview did not end the chatter. It simply changed its tone. Lowden has been a fixture on British bookmakers’ lists for years. His name sits alongside Callum Turner, Paul Mescal, Jacob Elordi and Harris Dickinson in almost every round of speculation .
What changed in 2026 was the volume. The conversation moved from fan forums and betting slips into mainstream headlines when Gary Oldman, Lowden’s Slow Horses co-star, made an off-the-cuff comment about the casting process.
Oldman told Canada’s The Morning Show in September 2026 that he had heard Lowden was on the shortlist. “We’re going to find out pretty soon, aren’t we? Because they have picked him. They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack,” Oldman said .
The remark spread fast. Richard Osman, the television presenter and author, added fuel on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment in August 2026, saying he had been told the name Jack Lowden was in the mix .
Oldman later clarified that his words had been twisted. “They took it to the very edge of misquoting me, moved things around like they do, and it became a headline,” Oldman said at Deadline’s Toronto Film Festival studio in September 2026 . He also revealed how Lowden reacted to the media frenzy. “What did Jack say? He said ‘Oh, they do that kind of thing, the f—ers’” .
“I think you’ve seen from six seasons that he’d be pretty perfect.” — Adam Randall, Slow Horses director, on Jack Lowden’s Bond chances
Saoirse Ronan’s Very Practical Response
Questions about Bond followed Lowden into his home life as well. His wife, Saoirse Ronan, was asked about the rumours during an Associated Press interview in October 2026. Her answer was grounded in a way that only someone sharing a house with a working actor could manage.
“Well, Gary Oldman thinks he’s James Bond,” Ronan said. “[That’s] its own thing. We’re kinda getting on with our life, to be honest. We have plenty of other things to be dealing with” .
“So, yeah, it’s not really a subject that’s coming up in our house, to be honest. The dog needs to be walked, the dinner needs to be made, we’re most focused on that,” she added .
Ronan also confirmed that Lowden was busy filming new episodes of Slow Horses, a detail that places his attention firmly on the Apple TV+ series rather than any tuxedo fittings .
What Slow Horses Itself Says About Lowden’s Range
The irony of the Bond chatter is that Slow Horses has given Lowden more chances to prove his action credentials than any audition ever could. The Telegraph’s review of Season 6 noted that Lowden gets a moment clinging to the bonnet of a moving car, and that he “acquits himself with exactly the sort of rumpled poise that was a hallmark of Daniel Craig’s tenure” .
Adam Randall, who directed all six episodes of the sixth season, was asked about the Bond rumours by The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t know anything beyond what everybody else knows,” Randall said. “I think you’ve seen from six seasons that he’d be pretty perfect” .
Randall went further. “The thing that Jack can do so well is bring comedy and humour into the most serious moments. He can play it very straight, he’s an amazing drama actor, he can play action, but he can also always find the funny. It’s that combination that would make him a very good pick”.
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The Bond Search Itself Is Still Moving
Amazon MGM Studios took creative control of the Bond franchise from Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson in February 2025 . Denis Villeneuve is attached to direct the next film, with Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, writing the screenplay .
Producer Amy Pascal has said audiences could learn the identity of the next Bond by the end of 2026. She has also stressed that the selection is being handled with care. “We are being really, really methodical,” Pascal said. “Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow. And it’s got to be something really different that is stirring and exciting and different” .
Slow Horses Season 6 began streaming on Apple TV+ on September 16, 2026, with new episodes following weekly . The show has already been renewed for a seventh season . Lowden remains under contract to Apple for a character who, as he once put it, is “James Bond if he was a bit shite”.
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That description, more than any headline, captures why the MI5 vs MI6 line still works. River Cartwright is not Bond. Jack Lowden knows it. The quote was never a deflection. It was an explanation.
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