The rumour and speculation surrounding the Bond franchise just doesn’t want to go away, and now Tom Hardy, one of the fan favourite picks to take over from Daniel Craig (if he is indeed done with 007…), has been discussing whether or not he’d be interested in playing Britain’s greatest spy.

When asked by The Daily Beast about the suggestion of Christopher Nolan helming a Bond movie, Hardy enthused, “Oh, wow, Chris would be amazing! Wow, that would be cool. That would be so cool.”

On the more meatier subject of whether he actually wants to play James Bond, Hardy responded, “You know, there’s a saying amongst us in the fraternity of acting, and in the fellowship of my peer group, that if you talk about it you’re automatically out of the race. So I can’t possibly comment on that one! If I mention it, it’s gone. But Chris Nolan, what a fantastic director for a Bond movie. Because Daniel have done has been so impressive, that it would be a very hard reimagination to follow after. I wonder what the next installment of that franchise would become, and I think when you mention someone like Christopher Nolan, that’s a very powerful figure to bring into that world who could bring something new and create something profound – again.”

Of course, right now it remains to be seen whether or not Daniel Craig really is done with the franchise. There were those famous comments from Craig about how he’d rather slit his wrists than return to the franchise following SPECTRE, which he then instantly played down as a joke. Towards the end of last year, it was widely reported that Sony were offering Craig a whopping $150 million to return for just two more Bond outings… and that just so happened to coincide with the actor not being so against more 007 appearances in the future.

Tom Hardy is just one of the names thrown around to replace Craig when he finally does call it a day as James Bond, with other notable names in the frame being the likes of Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston, and Michael Fassbender.