It looks like the wait for the next James Bond is almost over. Amy Pascal, a producer at Amazon MGM, said in a recent interview with Deadline that we should expect the iconic character to be recast by the end of the year.

After being asked about the Bond timeline, Pascal said: “I would say the end of the year is a good bet. We are being really, really methodical. Having worked with Barbara Broccoli at the studio, I mean, Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow. And it’s got to be something really different, that is stirring and exciting and different.” Daniel Craig’s first Bond film, Casino Royale, was released in 2006, meaning the actor has been synonymous with the character for two decades. He starred in five movies as the super spy, the last being 2021’s No Time to Die.

Since it was announced Craig wouldn’t be returning to the franchise, there have been years of speculation about who will take over as 007. Amazon acquired full creative control of the series last year and signed British casting director Nina Gold (Game of Thrones) for the upcoming Bond film. She recently won the inaugural Academy Award for Achievement in Casting with last year’s Hamnet. As for who is expected to land the role, a prime candidate is Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who fueled conjecture in May by signing a deal with Omega, the official watch company for the Bond franchise. Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, and Harris Dickinson have also been rumored to be in the running.

The casting situation has kicked off a bit of culture war nonsense as well, with conservative pundits irrationally worried that Bond would be reimagined as a woman or a black actor. After speculation that Idris Elba may take up the role, he gave a sobering take on the subject, saying in an interview with GQ, “I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And [audiences] won’t [all] go for a Black male, an African male, playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period.”

Bond has had a good year thanks to the critically acclaimed game 007: First Light, which has been praised for reimagining the character from the ground up. It will be interesting to see if Amazon MGM takes any inspiration from IO Interactive’s video game.