James Norton and another rumoured James Bond hopeful join Guy Ritchie's next film

His 2020 feature film and its recent Netflix spin-off, both titled The Gentlemen, have proven to be major hits, attracting yet more high calibre acting talent to this latest effort.

James Norton (Happy Valley, Playing Nice) and Cosmo Jarvis (Shōgun, Peaky Blinders) will both appear in Wife & Dog in as-yet-unspecified roles, with House of the Dragon's Paddy Considine and The Crown's Pip Torrens also joining this week.

Rumours of Norton being up for the role of James Bond have intensified since the acclaimed and massively popular final season of Happy Valley, which returned from a long hiatus in 2023.

Meanwhile, Jarvis became an overnight star for his role as John Blackthorne in the smash-hit period drama Shōgun, which saw an oblivious Englishman washed up on the shores of feudal Japan – just as the country teetered on the brink of war.

As is tradition for a young male British actor who suddenly gains prominence, speculation soon followed that Jarvis could be tapped for the 007 gig, but the actor seemed to nip such talk in the bud during a Golden Globes appearance last month.

Indeed, more than three years on from Daniel Craig's farewell performance in No Time to Die, fans of the Ian Fleming spy character are really no closer to finding out what the next iteration of the film franchise holds in store.

Last year, momentum seemed to be building around Aaron Taylor-Johnson, but those rumours appear to have died down in the wake of critical and commercial flop Kraven the Hunter.

Norton, Jarvis, Considine and Torrens round out an already impressive ensemble for Wife & Dog, which also includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike and Anthony Hopkins in the lead roles. Filming is underway right now.

Wife & Dog is coming soon.

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