New James Bond Favorite's Breakthrough Series Is The Best Classic Novel Adaptation Of The Last 10 Years

Published Sep 11, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT

Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.

While the search for the next James Bond continues, the current favorite to get the role had his big break in one of the best classic novel TV adaptations in recent years. There are literary characters that have become part of pop culture thanks to their popularity, impact, and quality, also leading them to expand to film and TV. Such is the case for James Bond, created by Ian Fleming, who debuted in the 1953 novel Casino Royale.

James Bond found greater success on the big screen, becoming one of the most sought-after roles in film history. Daniel Craig’s run as James Bond ended in 2021 with No Time to Die, and now that Amazon MGM Studios has full creative control of the franchise, the search for the next James Bond has begun. Various actors have been rumored to be at the top of the list, and at the time of writing, the clear favorite is Jack Lowden.

Although Jack Lowden is not a newcomer, his work has gained more attention in recent years. Lowden’s performances in Dunkirk, England Is Mine, Calibre, and Mary Queen of Scots gave him the recognition he deserves (as well as a couple of awards), and he’s currently best-known for his role as River Cartwright in Apple TV’s Slow Horses. However, before all these roles, Lowden got his actual break in one of the best classic novel adaptations of the last decade: War & Peace.

007 Favorite Jack Lowden Made His Breakthrough In The BBC’s War & Peace

In 2016, the BBC released a TV adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s 1869 classic novel War & Peace. Directed by Andrew Davies, War & Peace is a six-part TV series that aired in 2016 and starred Paul Dano as Pierre Bezukhov, Lily James as Natasha Rostova, and James Norton as Andrei Bolkonsky. War & Peace takes viewers back to 1805 during the Russian Empire to meet Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, who, despite their privileged circumstances, struggle to find meaning in their lives.

As Napoleon’s French army gets closer to Russia’s borders, Natasha’s older brother, Nikolai (Lowden), joins the Imperial Russian Army, which forces him to mature a lot faster. However, this doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his own struggles, as while he’s in love with his cousin, Sonya (Aisling Loftus), his parents try to get him to marry a rich bride. War & Peace was a critical success, and at the time of writing, it holds an 88% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 87% popcornmeter score, both giving it a “fresh” certification.

War & Peace was Lowden’s biggest project at the time, and as such, it gave him the exposure and recognition he deserved. The characters in War & Peace are complex and not easy to bring to life, but Lowden gave Nikolai the depth he required as he went from a high-spirited young man to a soldier shaped by the horrors of war. Thanks to War & Peace, Jack Lowden went on to get bigger projects, such as Dunkirk and later Slow Horses.

War & Peace Is TV’s Best Classic Novel Adaptation For Years

As mentioned above, War and Peace is not an easy novel to adapt, due to its length, narrative structure, and complexity in terms of characters, story, and themes. In addition to the stories of its main characters, War and Peace explores the French invasion of Russia and also discusses philosophical themes, adding to the complexity of the novel. However, the BBC found the best way to adapt one of Tolstoy’s finest works to TV.

War & Peace covers the most important parts of the novel and makes it accessible to the audience, with a fast pace but without rushing, and with a blend of politics, family drama, romance, war, and loss. War & Peace also counts on a great cast that delivered incredible performances, both in main and supporting roles.

Adapting classic novels for TV is a difficult and often risky task, but the BBC’s War & Peace is a masterclass on how to do so right, and thanks to it, the James Bond franchise might have found its next 007 agent.