"Bond 24," the next installment in the James Bond series, will star Daniel Craig as agent 007. But who will be the James Bond contender for future films after "Bond 24" and Daniel Craig's retirement?

Daniel Craig has signed on to the next two James Bond films, unofficially titled "Bond 24" and "Bond 25." "Bond 24" is currently planned for an Autumn 2015 release, but according to new rumors there may already be contenders for the coveted role in future James Bond films. A fan favorite includes "The Dark Knight Rises" villain, Tom Hardy.

According to Contactmusic.com, Tom Hardy has been "the public's number one choice" to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond.

The question is, is Tom Hardy the right guy to play 007 after "Bond 24" and "Bond 25"? Contactmusic.com reports that at 36 years old, Hardy is the right age to play James Bond, who is usually portrayed as a sauve, middle-aged agent. Hardy is also an "action man" - he starred as the villain Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises" and also had a main role in "Inception."

Time will only tell who will fill Daniel Craig's shoes in a few years.

The "Bond 24" release date is November 6, 2015. Daniel Craig will star as James Bond again and the film will be helmed by returning director Sam Mendes. Bond girl Naomie Harris is expected to reprise her "Skyfall" role as Moneypenny. Ralph Fiennes will replace Judi Dench as "M" in the upcoming James Bond film, "Bond 24."

Scriptwriter John Logan revealed that the "Bond 24" script will draw heavily from Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels, as well as previous James Bond films such as "Skyfall."

"The great thing about Bond is that I have fifty years of movies - 23 movies and all the Ian Fleming novels and short stories, all of which are fodder. And when I'm working on the new Bond I'm constantly going back to Fleming and the other movies - what are the bits and pieces, what are the resonances?" John Logan said.

"One of the things we learned in Skyfall is that the audience really enjoyed those, they enjoyed when they saw the Aston Martin, they enjoyed when we had references to things they grew up with, either from Ian Fleming or from the other movies, and that's always been a part of my thinking about Bond," he added about "Bond 24."