Morning News · Tuesday 3 November 2026
The Bond rumour mill has a new favourite: Showbiz411 says the “word on the street” is that Callum Turner is the next 007, days after he was reported to have screen-tested at Bray Studios. Amazon MGM Studios has confirmed nothing. Also this morning: Toho’s space survival thriller Leviathan shows its first images, Mike Flanagan teases a surprising way into Warhammer 40,000, Megan Is Missing gets a secret sequel on Instagram and TikTok, Ben Wang is in talks to play Iceman in X-Men, and Nicola Coughlan’s I Am Helen gets its Channel 4 dates.
The News That Matters
Update: Callum Turner is reported to be the next James Bond, but nothing is confirmed
- What’s new: Showbiz411’s Roger Friedman wrote on Monday 2 November that “word on the street is that Callum Turner is the next James Bond”. He gave no source beyond that, and added his own suggestion that Turner’s wife, Dua Lipa, should sing the theme song. ComingSoon notes the report was quickly amplified on social media
- The screen test: The Sun and the Daily Mail reported that Turner arrived at Bray Studios in Berkshire, which Amazon MGM Studios bought in 2024, for a screen test on Friday 30 October, as the final auditions got under way over the weekend
- Who else: Deadline previously reported that Turner, Jack Lowden and Josh O’Connor were among at least four actors invited to final screen tests. Lowden told GQ he is “not really going to add to the noise”, as we reported in last night’s Evening News
- What is official: Nothing yet. Amazon MGM Studios has said it won’t comment on casting during the process. Denis Villeneuve directs from a script by Steven Knight, with Amy Pascal and David Heyman producing, and Pascal said in August that the end of the year is “a good bet” for an announcement. Bookmakers have long made Lipa the favourite to sing the next theme, but those are betting odds, not a decision
- UK availability: No title, cast or release date confirmed; UK date not yet confirmed
Friedman has form, having been early on Daniel Craig two decades ago, but “word on the street” is not a casting announcement, and Turner has been the bookmakers’ favourite for most of the year. Until Amazon MGM or the producers say so, treat this as a report, nothing more. Why Bond matters so much to British screen culture is in our feature The Two Pillars of British Entertainment.
Toho’s space survival thriller Leviathan shows its first images
- What happened: Paris-based sales company Goodfellas has released the first images from Leviathan, Toho’s live-action film of Shiro Kuroi’s best-selling manga, as it takes the film to the American Film Market, Deadline reported
- The story: Set in 2127, it follows a group of students pitted against each other in a brutal fight for survival after an accident leaves their spacecraft adrift and low on oxygen, with life support for only one of them
- Who’s making it: Michihito Fujii (Last Samurai Standing) directs with Ryohei Shingu, and Fujii co-wrote the script with Izumi Takahashi. Shunsuke Michieda and Natsuki Deguchi lead the cast. The film is in post-production, and Goodfellas, which handles all territories outside Asia, will show a first promo reel at AFM
- UK availability: Opens in Japan on 11 February 2027; UK date not yet confirmed
Toho is on a roll with Exit 8 and Godzilla, and a one-oxygen-tank premise is the kind of lean, nasty hook that travels. Read why the studio’s monster films are worth studying in our Godzilla Minus Zero preview.
Mike Flanagan says Warhammer 40,000 has found an unexpected way in
- What he said: Flanagan, who is writing Henry Cavill’s live-action Warhammer 40,000 series for Prime Video, told Deadline: “Henry Cavill would be furious if I divulged anything about what we’re working on.” The challenge, he said, is “finding a way in” to a world with 700 novels
- The tease: The show has found “a very cool and unexpected on-ramp into it, which I think is very exciting. I’m sworn to secrecy on all of it, but I’m having the time of my life working on it”
- Also: In the same interview Flanagan looked back on the first season of his Prime Video series Carrie, which has been renewed for a second season, and said he hopes it runs to three
- UK availability: No release date; UK date not yet confirmed. It will stream on Prime Video
With so much lore to choose from, the entry point is everything. An “unexpected” one suggests Flanagan isn’t simply starting with a Space Marine charging into battle.
Megan Is Missing gets a surprise sequel on Instagram and TikTok
- What happened: Michael Goi, writer and director of the 2011 found-footage horror Megan Is Missing, which went viral on TikTok in 2020, has released Megan Is Missing: Evil Never Dies, a feature-length vertical series shot in secret and split into 36 episodes, Bloody Disgusting reported
- The story: Rachel Quinn and Amber Perkins return as fictionalised versions of themselves, in a meta story about a podcaster interviewing the stars of the original film, who turns out to be a psychopath. “The end of Megan Is Missing was not the end of the story,” Goi said
- UK availability: Streaming now, free, only on the film’s official Instagram and TikTok pages; no other release is planned
It is a clever full circle: a film that found its second life on phones now tells its sequel on them. Be warned that the original is one of the most disturbing films of its kind. For gentler scares, our Halloween horror guide is still open.
Ben Wang is in talks to play Iceman in Marvel’s X-Men
- What happened: Ben Wang, star of Karate Kid: Legends, has entered talks to play Bobby Drake, aka Iceman, in Marvel Studios’ X-Men, sources told Deadline. Gabriel LaBelle, Jackson Kelly and Rhenzy Feliz were among the other actors who tested, Deadline added. Marvel has not commented
- The cast: If the deal closes, Wang joins Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Adam Driver as Mister Sinister, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Maya Boyd as Storm, Asa Germann as Angel and Sadie Sink as Jean Grey. Jake Schreier directs from a script by Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo
- UK availability: Due in cinemas on 5 May 2028 (US date); UK date not yet confirmed
Wang plays District 12 tribute Wyatt Callow in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping first, which our preview covers. Iceman would complete four of the five original X-Men, and the new Storm’s training regime is in yesterday’s Morning News.
Nicola Coughlan’s I Am Helen sets its Channel 4 dates
- What happened: Channel 4 has confirmed that I Am Helen, the latest film in Dominic Savage’s BAFTA-winning I Am anthology, will air as a two-parter, and has released new first-look images, Radio Times reported
- The story: Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton, Derry Girls) plays Helen, and Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders) is her boyfriend Steve, a couple five years in whose rough patch is made worse by his toxic behaviour. Savage and Coughlan developed it together
- UK availability: Channel 4 at 9pm on Monday 16 November, with the second and final part at 9.15pm on Tuesday 17 November; both parts stream on Channel 4 once the first has aired
The I Am films have given Kate Winslet a BAFTA and Suranne Jones and Lesley Manville some of their best work. Coughlan, best known for comedy, has the chance to show a very different side here.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
The Bond hunt is in its final stretch, and the Callum Turner talk is the loudest yet, but it is still talk: there is no official word from Amazon MGM Studios or the producers. Away from 007, sci-fi has the most to look forward to this morning, with Toho’s Leviathan and Flanagan’s Warhammer 40,000 both sounding bolder than expected.
Would Callum Turner make a good James Bond, or is someone else your 007? Tell us below.
Back tonight at 6pm with the Evening News.