James Bond Role Search Nears Conclusion with London Screen Tests This Weekend

According to BBC UK, the process to find the next James Bond is reportedly reaching its concluding stages this weekend, as screen tests for the position are set to occur in London. Potential front-runners, including Jack Lowden, Callum Turner, and Josh O'Connor, are said to be progressing through the three elements of the screen tests: dialogue, camera presence, and stunts. The actor who is ultimately selected will take over the role from Daniel Craig, who portrayed the spy/well-dressed killer in Casino Royale in 2006.

BBC UK also provided information for Bond fans interested in visiting various London locations, should the actors not be visible. Ian Fleming's residence at 22B Ebury Street in Belgravia now has a blue plaque commemorating his residency there.

Fans can also explore sites in the capital that have been featured in the films. The exterior of Buckingham Palace and its vicinity were shown in Die Another Day when Gustav Graves arrived to receive his knighthood from the Queen. The Olympic Stadium was also cited as a 007 venue, where stunt performers dressed as the monarch and the dashing womaniser made an entrance during the summer of 2012, with the phrase "The name's Bond. Games Bond." being used.

Parts of London served as St Petersburg in GoldenEye (1995), with The Langham functioning as a Russian hotel and Drapers' Hall representing the Russian Council Chamber. Somerset House on the Strand also depicted St Petersburg in GoldenEye and was the setting for a meeting with M in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) when Bond arrived. St Pancras station was portrayed as St Petersburg station, and the interior of the St Sophia Cathedral on Moscow Road was used as a St Petersburg church.

The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square featured in Skyfall (2012), where Bond met the new Q in front of JMW Turner's painting, The Fighting Temeraire. This oil painting of a warship being towed for scrap was bequeathed to the nation by the artist in 1851. For a different form of Bond-related viewing, one could examine a £20 banknote, which features the Temeraire and a self-portrait of JMW.

Skyfall (2012) also filmed at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, which was used for the scene where M attended the funerals of MI6 agents killed in a terrorist attack. This location was also used for contenders to Q ahead of the Laver Cup earlier this year, where male tennis players competed for the title of love-love seven.

The River Thames was featured in The World Is Not Enough (1999), showing Bond speeding in a boat past the Houses of Parliament, through Tower Bridge to Docklands and the then-Millennium Dome. City Hall in Southwark, which was formerly the home of the Greater London Assembly, appeared in Spectre (2015) as the location of the Centre for National Security. Freemasons' Hall on Great Queen Street was also featured in the film.

The Secret Intelligence Service building at Vauxhall Cross has served as the on-screen home of Bond's MI6 in The World Is Not Enough, Skyfall, and Spectre. In 1983's Octopussy, the Old War Office Building in Whitehall played the role of MI6. The moment in Die Another Day when Bond entered Vauxhall Cross Underground station was filmed at the end of Westminster Bridge, which also appeared in the finale of Spectre. Finally, Rules in Covent Garden, the oldest restaurant in London, was featured in Spectre, serving as a meeting place for M, Q, and Moneypenny.