Pierce Brosnan has a favourite in the race to become the next James Bond. He's just not telling anyone, mostly because he says he doesn't know.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the second season of MobLand, Brosnan was asked about Page Six's recent report naming Jack Barton -- known for Heartstopper, Poor Things and the Elden Ring campaign -- as a frontrunner for Denis Villeneuve's Bond 26. His answer was pure fan energy.

"I'm just a member of the audience now -- I will not find out before any of us. It's exciting. It's wonderful. It's exhilarating. We all want to know," Brosnan said. He added a line that sounded almost like a blessing for whoever gets the part: "Whoever the man is, I wish him well. Stand tall, stand strong, own it and be great."

That's the diplomatic version of the story. The messier one belongs to Gary Oldman.

Two weeks before Brosnan's comments, Oldman told reporters his Slow Horses co-star Jack Lowden had already landed the role and that the studio was simply sitting on the announcement. He has since walked that back, insisting he has no actual inside line and was only cheerleading for a friend. But he hasn't fully let go of it either. Talking to THR, Oldman said, "It's been rumored that he is on the shortlist... We're going to find out pretty soon, aren't we? Because they have picked him. They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack."

So that's two names doing the rounds -- Barton and Lowden -- and neither confirmed by Amazon, MGM or Villeneuve's camp.

Why the silence makes sense

JoBlo's reporting floats a fairly practical theory for the hold-up. Villeneuve is still in the middle of promoting Dune: Part Three, and a Bond reveal landing mid-tour would yank headlines away from that film right when Warner Bros needs eyes on it. Nobody benefits from the studio wars playing out over the same news cycle.

JoBlo's editor-in-chief has apparently pegged the announcement for sometime around the holidays, though that's an educated guess from someone who follows the franchise closely, not a studio confirmation. Nothing about a formal timeline has come from Amazon or MGM themselves.

What's clear is that the field keeps getting reported on faster than it gets settled. Brosnan, for his part, sounds happy to just wait it out with everyone else, no insider access, no early word, just the same anticipation as any other person watching the rumor cycle churn.

Until Villeneuve wraps his Dune press run, expect more names to surface, more co-stars to drop hints, and no actual announcement. The tuxedo stays unclaimed for now.