Who Is Jack Lowden? Why You Recognise This Rumoured Bond

You know it’s a slow news week (month… season…) when the Bond rumours reappear. This time Scottish actor Jack Lowden is the name on everyone’s lips – not least Richard Osman’s. The presenter and podcaster declared on The Rest is Entertainment this week, ‘Someone told me for definite who the new Bond is the other day,’ with Lowden the name in question.

Speaking in conversation with his co-host Marina Hyde, Osman went on to backtrack somewhat. ‘It is definitively not a “he’s definitely got it” thing. He is definitely being strongly considered,’ Osman said, adding: ‘I think he’d be amazing.’

This isn’t the first time the Slow Horses star has been mentioned in connection with the 26th 007 film. The hunt for the seventh Bond has been on since even before Daniel Craig’s final outing, No Time To Die, landed in cinemas in 2021, with names like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, James Norton, Theo James, Henry Cavill, Josh O’Connor, Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal, Lucien Laviscount, Stuart Martin and, of course, Lowden all spinning in the rumour mill.

Osman’s ‘definite’/‘not definite’ statements are all we have to go off at this point – though we know Amazon MGM intends to name its new Bond before the end of 2026. In 2025, the production company – which took control of Bond from Eon in the same year – named Canadian screenwriter and director Denis Villeneuve as Bond 26’s director, and British screenwriter (and Peaky Blinders creator) Steven Knight as the film’s writer.

In the meantime, here’s where you recognise Jack Lowden from – and where you will see him next.

Jack Lowden & Gary Oldman in Slow Horses. (Apple TV)

Mrs Biggs (2012)

Following theatre roles in Black Watch with the National Theatre of Scotland and the 2012 stage adaptation of Olympic film Chariots of Fire, Lowden’s first high-profile television role was in Mrs Biggs. Based on the wife of the real Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, the five-part biographical drama solidified the stellar status of Sheridan Smith and Daniel Mays as British TV stalwarts. Meanwhile Lowden had a supporting role as Alan Wright, who has an affair with Charmian and gets her pregnant. Stream on ITVX.

War & Peace (2016)

In 2014, Lowden earned an Olivier Award for his role in Richard Eyre’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, performed opposite Kristin Scott Thomas and Diana Quick in Electra at the Old Vic, and was named one of the UK Stars of Tomorrow by Screen Daily. In 2015, he had the small role of politician and lyric poet Thomas Wyatt in Wolf Hall, but Lowden’s big break really came in 2016 with a main role in BBC miniseries War & Peace. Starring alongside Paul Dano, Lily James and James Norton, Lowden portrayed Nikolai Rostov. Coincidentally, this was also an early TV gig for fellow Bond hopeful Callum Turner, who played Anatole Kuragin. Stream on BBC iPlayer.

In the same year, Lowden had small roles in golf film Tommy’s Honour, biographical romance A United Kingdom and legal drama Denial.

Dunkirk

Dunkirk (2017)

When it landed in cinemas in 2017, it seemed like every male actor under the sun was starring in Christopher Nolan’s war epic Dunkirk. With Harry Styles appearing in his acting debut, this included big names (Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy) and emerging stars (Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Barry Keoghan) alike, most of whom would go on to greatness. Lowden played Royal Air Force fighter pilot Collins. Stream on HBO MAX.

In the same year, he took on the role of a young David Morrissey in biopic England is Mine, with co-star Jessica Brown Findlay; the film premiered at the closing gala of the 2017 edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Mary Queen Of Scots (2018)

While Mary Queen of Scots wasn’t Lowden’s highest profile role, his turn as Lord Darnley was surely life-changing: this is where he met his future wife Saorise Ronan, who played the lead titular role in the film. Margot Robbie also starred as Mary’s cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, while Joe Alwyn, David Tennant and Guy Pearce took on supporting roles alongside Lowden. Foreshadowing the future, Lowden starred as Henry Stuart, Mary’s husband. Stream on Disney+.

In the same year, Lowden bagged a Scottish BAFTA for his role in Netflix thriller Calibre, and starred both on screen and on stage with Hayley Atwell: in a gender reversed Measure for Measure at the Donmar Warehouse, and in BBC miniseries The Long Song.

Fighting With My Family (2019)

In 2019, Lowden took on his most physically demanding role to date, portraying real AEW wrestler Zak Zodiac in Fighting with My Family opposite Florence Pugh in the lead as his wrestling sister Paige, and Lena Heady and Nick Frost as their parents Julia and Ricky Knight. Rent on Prime Video.

Soon after, he starred in Capone (2020) with Tom Hardy, and it was around this time that Lowden founded his own Edinburgh-based production company, Reiver Pictures, which soon resulted in psychological thriller Kindred (2020), starring Lowden alongside Tamara Lawrence and Fiona Shaw.

Jack Lowden & Gary Oldman in Slow Horses. (Apple TV)

Slow Horses (2022–)

While Slow Horses has been more of a sleeper success, garnering new fans with every season, now we are awaiting season 6, it has to be Lowden’s highest profile role to date. Starring in the spy thriller since season 1, Lowden received an Emmy nomination for his performance as River Cartwright in 2024, and is set to return for the sixth instalment in September 2026. Stream on Apple TV.

In the meantime, you may have also spotted Lowden starring as Kenneth Noye in the BBC’s historical heist drama The Gold (2023–25) and as Forodwaith Sauron in one episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024) on the small screen. On the big screen, Lowden has starred in Siegfried Sassoon biopic Benediction (2021) and as an eighteenth century Scottish brigand in period action drama Tornado (2025).

First look at Netflix’s Pride and Prejudice adaptation: Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet, Freya Mavor as Jane Bennet, Olivia Colman as Mrs. Bennet, Hopey Parish as Mary Bennet, Rhea Norwood as Lydia Bennet & Hollie Avery as Kitty Bennet. (© Netflix/Ludovic Robert)

Pride and Prejudice (2026)

While the Bond rumours are big news, this writer has more of an affinity with another of Lowden’s high profile upcoming roles. Come autumn, he will take on the time-treasured role of Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy in Netflix’s new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, opposite Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet, and also starring Olivia Colman, Rufus Sewell, Fiona Shaw and plenty more. The six-part period romance is set to land on Netflix in autumn 2026.

Otherwise, Lowden is also working on another Apple TV project, this time a period crime thriller based on Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther book series. Lowden will take on the leading role in Berlin Noir: police officer Bernie assigned to the Berlin Murder Squad and working to track down a serial killer. With filming reportedly taking place in Germany in February 2026, Colin Firth, Jessica Gunning, Maxine Peake and Daniel Mays are also set to star, reuniting Lowden with one of the lead stars on his earliest TV project.