Australian actor and rising star in Hollywood, Jacob Elordi, was this week taken aback when thrown a random question out of left field.

“Bond – would you be up for it?” asked Terri Seymour, from US entertainment news show Extra.

“Your name has been thrown around.”

Elordi smiled: “Bond? James Bond?” Elordi said as he smiled.

“Is that what they’re saying?” he probed, shrugging his shoulders. “Oh my goodness, wow … that’s beautiful.”

Good acting or genuine surprise from Elordi is debatable, as the rumour mill once again goes into overdrive after Daniel Craig’s announcement two years ago he would end his on-screen 007 duties after his fifth starring role in the franchise in No Time To Die in 2021.

Betting agencies had their money on UK actor Idris Elba and star of BBC One series, Luther, to pick up the mantle, followed by Superman‘s Henry Cavill and Tom Hardy (Mad Max).

Then the shuffle began and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train), Bridgerton‘s Rege-Jean Page and Little Women‘s James Norton were thrown around.

The rumour mill had some of them in secret screen tests and “preliminary talks” with producer Barbara Broccoli, one candidate even reportedly filming the trademark gun-barrel teaser.

The question on everyone’s lips in Hollywood right now is who on earth will be the next James Bond? Who is really on the short list to take on this iconic role?

Could the 26-year-old boy from Brisbane with Basque heritage be in with a chance?

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Do these retro bathers look familiar?

In one of the most iconic James Bond scenes filmed – and there are hundreds, let’s be clear – Craig emerges from the water in Casino Royale wearing a pair of blue mid-rise trunks.

In fact, it was the first publicity still for the film and became a part of a 2012 exhibition of 50 years of designing Bond.

Coincidentally, Elordi, who is in Australia filming a new Prime Video mini series adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel,The Narrow Road to the Deep North, was spotted this week on a Sydney beach wearing a pair of retro swim shorts.

It must be a sign!

Many say those swimmers transformed the 007 British spy into a new-era sex symbol, with producers no longer having to rely on a female protagonist (or agent).

(The La Perla trunks from their Spring/Summer 2006 collection sold out around the world).

Elordi ticks the boxes for Bond as he’s the right age to handle a five-film contract, stands 1.92 metres tall and has the required physique.

He grew up acting in the theatre and started acting professionally by playing the Cat in the Hat in Seussical.

He caught the attention of Hollywood with the breakout Netflix hit The Kissing Booth in 2018, Swinging Safari in 2017 and the HBO/A24 drama series Euphoria in 2019.

He’s been at film festivals throughout the year for Priscilla (he plays Elvis Presley), is now on the red carpet for Saltburn, and has just wrapped another two films, Oh Canada and On Swift Horses.

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‘I need a job’

Looking dashing on the red carpet in a three-piece suit this week, Elordi was asked about his career to date.

“I just play what they give me. I need a job,” he said in a distinct Aussie accent.

He’s the man of the moment, featuring on the cover of the latest issue of GQ and co-hosting the magazine’s Man of the Year awards in Los Angeles.

In October, Broccoli told The Guardian that executives haven’t started the process of modernising the iconic franchise.

With Craig, they had “wanted to focus on what a 21st-century hero would look like”.

“Daniel gave us the ability to mine the emotional life of the character … and also the world was ready for it,” she said.

“I think these movies reflect the time they are in, and there’s a big, big road ahead reinventing it for the next chapter and we haven’t even begun with that.”

According to the latest Ladbrokes update from mid-November, the odds are in Taylor-Johnson’s favour with punters betting 5-2, with Norton (gaining fame in the UK for his roles in crime dramas Happy Valley and McMafia) now hot on his heels in second place at 3-1.

Third up is Superman actor Henry Cavill with odds of 7-2.

Cavill has been playing the American comic book character for the better part of the past decade, he is a Brit and at 40 years old, he narrowly satisfies the producers’ desired age bracket.

And with the news that he’s departing Netflix series The Witcher and will not be returning as Superman in any future DC projects, it sounds like his schedule is open.

Next with odds at 4-1 is Page and Elba has pushed out to 25-1.

In between the agency’s top 16 we find Hardy, Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey), Jonathan Bailey (Broadchurch) and Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders).

Elordi’s name is not there yet.

By all accounts, casting has not yet started for Bond 26, the codename for the 26th film in the 60-year-old James Bond movie series, due in cinemas in 2025.

But if Game of Thrones star Richard Madden (on the Ladbrokes list) got tongues wagging last weekend when he posted an Instagram video drinking a martini with Citadel co-star Stanley Tucci, then Elordi might well be included after shooting his Sydney beach scenes.