Robert Pattinson Beat Nicholas Hoult for Batman. Now Both Tested for Bond.

They join Callum Turner, Josh O'Connor and Jack Lowden in Denis Villeneuve's final 007 screen tests, held in London in late October.

Years ago, Nicholas Hoult came in second to Robert Pattinson for the part of Batman. Now the two British actors are reported to be up for the same job again, and this one comes with a license to kill.

Both screen-tested to play the next James Bond, alongside Callum Turner, Josh O'Connor and Jack Lowden, according to Friday evening reports from The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Variety and TheWrap. TheWrap credited THR with breaking the Pattinson news. Nobody has confirmed it. Amazon declined to comment to Variety and gave no comment to THR or TheWrap, and Deadline said it couldn't reach the studio.

Pattinson is the surprise. According to THR, the usual thinking was that the next 007 wouldn't be someone the whole world already knows. Pattinson, 40, is already DC Studios' Batman, and THR says he's shooting The Batman Part II in London, the same city where the Bond tests have been held.

He also has a head start with the director. Pattinson is in Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Three, which opens Dec. 18, and THR says the two men got along well on that shoot.

Before naming the pair, Deadline's Justin Kroll dropped a clue on X: "One stars in a 2026 Amazon pic and another likes to wear a mask." The mask is easy. The Amazon movie fits Hoult, who stars in Amazon MGM Studios' How to Rob a Bank, in theaters Nov. 13, Variety noted. That means one of the five is about to open a movie for the studio that gets to choose.

Here's who's reported to be in the room, so you can pick:

• Robert Pattinson: Batman, the Dune connection and the biggest name in the group.
• Nicholas Hoult: Lex Luthor in DC's Superman movies, per Variety, and the Batman runner-up.
• Callum Turner: Pierce Brosnan, the '90s Bond, has backed him, Variety reported.
• Jack Lowden: Gary Oldman, his co-star on Slow Horses, is in his corner. Variety says Oldman has also claimed the part is already cast, though nothing has been announced.
• Josh O'Connor: one of the three names that came out before Pattinson's.

Then there are the names on the edges. Harry Styles has been in talks for 007, according to Variety, and the same report keeps 41-year-old Theo James in play.

Deadline lays out how the search got here. Amazon brought on casting director Nina Gold in the spring, and the first auditions came in August. In September, producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman worked with Villeneuve to cut the field and make test offers. The final tests were supposed to happen in early October, but they moved to the end of the month so the finalists could all test around the same time. THR puts them on the weekend of Oct. 24. Deadline says a fifth test was added at the last minute and that it isn't known which actor that was.

That's a lot of care for one part, and the business explains it. THR reported that the Broccoli family sold Amazon the franchise's creative rights in February 2025, which makes this the studio's first Bond movie. Steven Knight, who created Peaky Blinders, is writing the script, according to Variety, and TheWrap says Amazon wants to build a wider world of shows and movies around the character. Whoever gets cast is taking over from Daniel Craig, whose five films included Skyfall, the series' only $1 billion hit, according to THR.

Deadline says most people following the search expect a decision by the end of November, possibly before Thanksgiving. The last time Pattinson and Hoult went after the same hero, Pattinson got the cape.

Source: Deadline, retrieved November 7, 2026. Other sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, TheWrap.