Whenever there is a new role in Hollywood or a reboot of a well-known franchise, there is always one name you can hear being chanted from the bleachers: Henry Cavill.

The star is loved worldwide by young and old. Since dropping The Witcher and being booted from Man of Steel, fans are eager to see what the superstar will take on next, while others are openly hoping that the next project will be none other than James Bond, but has Henry Cavill ruined his chances with the superspy roles he has taken like Argylle and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?

CAVILL HAS RUINED HIS CHANCES OF PLAYING JAMES BOND

With being possibly locked into a brand new and apparently expanding superspy franchise, Cavill might have ruined his chances of being the next Bond. As we mentioned at the start, this role notoriously requires some exclusivity. When Pierce Brosnan was signed on for the role, he had to sign for at least three movies, each one of which can take between two to three years to come to fruition.

While Daniel Craig hasn’t shared any direct information on how he was signed on, it’s suspected that he did the same. He ended up staying on for five movies instead of just three, spanning a career in the franchise that lasted 15 years. With everything Matthew Vaughn has planned for Argylle, it’s hard to imagine that Henry Cavill would be willing to sign on to more than one project with that time commitment.

Additionally, the handsome actor might have just missed his shot. Few remember that the actor auditioned for the role before Daniel Craig even got to put a name on it at 22 years old. According to Casino Royale director Martin Campbell, who recently reminisced about the story with Express.co.uk, “[Cavill] looked great in the audition. His acting was tremendous. And look, if Daniel [Craig] didn’t exist, Henry would have made an excellent Bond. He looked terrific, he was in great physical shape…very handsome, very chiselled. He just looked a little young at that time back then.”

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. AND OTHER SPY ROLES

Guy Ritchie’s 2015 spy film was arguably the first time that Cavill took on the illustrious role of a superspy, proving to the world that he has the looks, the charm, and has proven that he has the acting chops to pull off the role perfectly.

In the film, Cavill plays the role of a British spy during the Cold War. While it was never intended to be a parody or a similar role to James Bond’s, you can’t help but see the parallels.

Taking a bit of a different direction, Cavill still took on the role of a terrifying CIA assassin in 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Taking on an American stance rather than the usual smooth British spy, being a part of a big franchise like Mission: Impossible was a boon to his career. Still, the consequences for his possibility of being in James Bond are dire.

Having been in two other spy franchises, Henry Cavill is about to take on his third in the form of Argylle. This would be fine if the creators of Bond didn’t love their exclusivity. With three spy franchises basically already under the belt, Cavill is anything but exclusive.

ARGYLLE

While fans are still hopeful for news about Cavill becoming the next James Bond, our superspy curiosity was sated the day we found out he would be playing the suave womaniser in the 2024 action comedy Argylle.

Argylle follows a reclusive spy novelist, Elly Conway. Elly’s life is pretty simple: she loves her cat, loves to write, and is lucky enough that her superspy novel series, starring the handsome Argylle as the protagonist, has become a bestseller. The lines between reality and fiction blur when Elly’s novels mirror the actions of a real spy syndicate. Fearing that she might know too much, Elly, her beloved cat Alfie, and the cat-allergic undercover spy Aiden Wilde are on the run from an organisation that wants to silence her before she can reveal the next step in their plan.

When asked whether he thinks his participation in Argylle might have ruined his chances to play James Bond, Henry Cavill told Total Films (via Gamesradar.com) that whether he plays James Bond is entirely up to the directors and creators of the franchise. Still, he is happy he chose to work with Matthew Vaughn on Argylle because “It’s a fun character.”

“Whether I’m ruled out of Bond because of this or not is up to Barbara Broccoli and Mr Wilson.”

ARGYLLE IS SET TO BECOME A FRANCHISE OF ITS OWN

While Argylle doesn’t really focus on the superspy as such, thanks to him being a fictional character from a story within a story, director Matthew Vaughn told Total Films (via Gamesradar.com) that he is planning to turn Henry Cavill’s Argylle into the main character of an entirely new franchise, a whole universe with tie-in novels, its own merchandise, and at least a trilogy.

Considering Vaughn is the creator of the Kingsman universe, there is no doubt that he is capable of such a feat and pulling it off well, especially if he has Cavill in his corner.

Vaughn shared that he has plans for a trilogy of films that focuses specifically on the spy as a real character and not just as a figment of Elly Conway’s imagination. The plan is also to include a novel series much like the one that Elly Conway had written, and Vaughn even shared that the movie was based on the first book in the novel series.

“Book one is about how Argylle became a spy. That will be the next film. And then Argylle 2 is – I don’t want to give it all away, but there’s the young Argylle, and that becomes Henry because Henry loves the idea of doing a proper Argylle movie as well.”

When asked whether he was up for joining yet another long franchise with multiple movies set up, Cavill shared that he was keen and that his friendship with Matthew Vaughn played a significant role.

“I mean, it depends on where we go with it, really, as with anything. I have a great relationship with Matthew, so that would be the hard part out of the way. The next bit is just building a story. As long as the story is good, and the character has a place to go, and it fits in with everything else that I’m trying to build and do, then great.”

Additionally, there is always the chance that Vaughn’s Kingsman universe and Argylle could cross over in the future and become a part of a larger spy universe. Still, we will leave that speculation as is for right now.

Now that the star is in his 40s, the Bond franchise openly requires a minimum of 6 years of an actor’s life. Argyle is set to become its own franchise; it is starting to look less and less likely that we will ever see the actor in the role.