And while he has stayed relatively quiet during this time of contemplation, the odds are beginning to stack in his favour.

Leading betmakers Ladbrokes recently published a new set of odds on who is most likely to take over the role of Bond from Craig.

And, surprise surprise, Hardy is slowly leap-frogging previous favourites such as Cillian Murphy.

Hardy sits with a healthy 8/1, an improvement from this time last year.

Ahead of him still sits the favourites Norton and Heughan, with 2/1 and 3/1 respectively.