The James Bond franchise has been around for a long time and many actors have brought our favorite British secret service agent to life on multiple occasions.

Most recently, Daniel Craig played the role of Agent 007 after first taking up the role in Casino Royale in 2006.

However, after playing the role of Bond in 5 movies, Craig decided to retire from the role in No Time to Die.

Daniel Craig as James Bond

A lot of actors are being considered now for the role of James Bond, including the Man of Steel actor, Henry Cavill.

However, in a recent interview, Martin Campbell who has directed multiple James Bond movies throughout his career spanning over 5 decades, revealed that Cavill might have played the role of Bond instead of Craig had he looked a bit older in 2006.

Henry Cavill absolutely nailed his audition for Casino Royale back in 2006

In a recent interview with Express, Martin Campbell, the man who has rebooted the James Bond franchise twice opened up about Henry Cavill’s audition for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale.

 Campell revealed that Cavill was so phenomenal in his audition that he honestly would have gotten the role if Daniel Craig ‘didn’t exist‘. He said,

“He looked great in the audition. His acting was tremendous. And look, if Daniel didn’t exist Henry would have made an excellent Bond.

He looked terrific, he was in great physical shape… very handsome, very chiseled. He just looked a little young at that time back then.”

Henry Cavill
However, things did work out in his favor back then as Daniel Craig also nailed his audition for Casino Royale and went on to play the role of James Bond in four movies.

The Enola Holmes actor might be too old now to play the role of James Bond in 3 movies

Martin Campbell opened up about his views on Henry Cavill as James Bond more when he was asked if Cavill could still play Bond, 17 years after the release of Casino Royale. Campbell said,

“By the time Daniel got to [No Time To Die] really he was at an age where one more would have been too old for him. I think they sign on for three Bonds, I’m not absolutely 100 per cent certain of that.

I know with Pierce he had to sign on to three when we did him.

So that’s going to take, what, six years of your life maybe? I suspect Daniel [had] the same deal.

And the next guy’s going to have to do that. … Henry’s 40, so by the time he’s done the third one he’s going to be 50 and anything beyond that’s two, three years per Bond. He’s in good shape Henry, he’s a good guy.

He did very well in the audition, but ironically he was too young.”

Martin Campbell
The thing about the James Bond movies is that the franchise needs an actor who can do multiple movies and play the role of Bond for almost 10-15 years and no one is looking for that kind of commitment.