Pitch: 7 Roles for Tom Holland Since Sony Passed on His Young James Bond Idea

In an alternate timeline, current It Lad Tom Holland could have been Bond… James Bond… junior. The Spider-Man star told Total Film that he once met with Sony execs to pitch “this idea of a young Bond film” that he had come up with.

The idea apparently was an origin story, which is all the rage these days as studios would rather greenlight spinoffs and adaptations and expansions of existing IP than allow a single original thought to reach the fragile brains of the viewing public. “It didn’t really make sense,” Holland admitted. “It didn’t work. It was the dream of a young kid, and I don’t think the Bond estate were particularly interested.” It makes sense that Sony Pictures passed on what appears to have been a childish, half-baked idea in favor of more cerebral films like Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

Although the pitch meeting didn’t lead to Holland becoming Baby Bond, it did evidently broadcast to the right parties his willingness to play the younger version of a Hollywood franchise’s middle-aged leading man. As a result of that meeting, Holland eventually landed the role of a young Nathan Drake in an origin-story movie based on the Uncharted video game series.

But why stop there? Holland is spritely, he’s popular, and he has the cherubic face of a mischievous British schoolboy — he could convincingly play any part that is under the age of 25, maybe even under the age of 16. He seems like a sweet kid, and I wish him the best with his career.

To that end, I’ve taken the liberty of coming up with a list of iconic characters whose younger selves could be played by Holland, if he so chooses. Tom, feel free to take these mock-ups to your next pitch meeting; all I ask is that you give me a small consultant credit:

Young Neo:

Younger young Han Solo:

Young Thanos:

Young Paddington:

Young Sherlock (2010-2017 BBC version):

Young car in Fast and Furious:

Young Boss Baby (zygote):