The seemingly interminable speculation about who is set to become the next James Bond actor have taken another turn, with the revelation that Tom Hiddleston stands little chance of landing the part because, according to a producer, he’s “too smug”.

Bond chief Barbara Broccoli is reportedly not enamoured with the idea of The Night Manager actor Hiddleston, 35, playing 007 in the future, according to a new report by the New York Post’s Page Six.

“Barbara Broccoli doesn’t like Tom Hiddleston, he’s a bit too smug and not tough enough to play James Bond," a source told the publication on Wednesday (April 5th).

Tom HiddlestonTom Hiddleston is certainly not at the top of Barbara Broccoli's list, the report suggests

Besides, the entire question of the future of Bond may be a moot point after all, with the source also suggesting that Daniel Craig was finally ready to commit to making one more Bond movie. This despite, in 2015, saying after he had finished Spectre that he would rather “slash my wrists” than sign up for another.

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According to the report, Broccoli assisted Craig a great deal with his Broadway production of 'Othello' recently, and as a result is on the verge of persuading him to come back just once more to reprise his immensely popular 007.

“Daniel was very pleased with how 'Othello' went and the great reviews,” the source said. “Now Daniel’s talks with Barbara are going in the right direction. They have a script – screenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are writing and they’ll go into production as soon as Daniel is ready to commit.”

Other contenders for a future Bond have included Tom Hardy, who recently said that it would be “so cool” if he was to star in 007 movie directed by Christopher Nolan and with Michael Fassbender as a villain.

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