LONDON — The question of who will be the next James - or Jane - Bond has been debated furiously ever since Daniel Craig started suggesting he was ready to holster the PPK for good.

Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston and more recently Gillian Anderson have been discussed for the role as speculation reaches fever pitch, with Emilia Clarke the latest to throw her hat in the ring.

But who do the public really think should, or could, be the next Bond?

We took a look at some of the data around the online James Bond discussion to dig out the names that come up in searches, on bets and across social media to determine who's really driving the discussion online.

It's Bond. Jane Bond.

Thanks for all the votes! (And sorry, don't know who made poster but I love it!) #NextBond pic.twitter.com/f8GC4ZuFgL — Gillian Anderson (@GillianA) May 21, 2016

First up, we spoke to Google Trends and got some interesting observations. They revealed the most searched names next to the phrase "next Bond" in the UK and globally over the week leading up to last Friday and the year to date.

The top 10 most searched "next Bond" actors in the UK in the 7 days to May 27:

1. Tom Hiddleston

2. Aidan Turner

3. Tom Hardy

4. Idris Elba

5. Damian Lewis

6. Henry Cavill

7. Michael Fassbender

8. Gillian Anderson

9. James Norton

10. Luke Evans

The top ten of most searched actors in the UK that week yielded some of the usual suspects, with Tom Hiddleston and Aidan Turner top, but also threw up Michael Fassbender, Damian Lewis and Henry Cavill.

James Norton and Luke Evans, meanwhile, were also in the mix. The former is a Brit best known for his roles in Happy Valley and War & Peace, while the latter shot to international fame in Clash of the Titans and starred in The Hobbit. Both have been tipped for the role for some time, but their names are still making the top ten.

Gillian Anderson was the only female in the list.

Luke Evans' name came up in both the UK and US searches. Image: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

Globally, meanwhile, Idris Elba is higher up the list. He's at second place instead of fourth, but the line-up remains pretty similar.

Top 10 most searched "next Bond" actors globally in the last 7 days:

1. Tom Hiddleston

2. Idris Elba

3. Tom Hardy

4. Aidan Turner

5. Damian Lewis

6. Gillian Anderson

7. Henry Cavill

8. Michael Fassbender

9. James Norton

10. Luke Evans

Looking back over a broader period of time, for the whole of 2016 so far, Clive Owen and - somewhat improbably - Jason Statham are in the mix for UK searches.

Top 10 most searched "next Bond" actors in the UK in 2016:

1. Tom Hiddleston

2. Tom Hardy

3. Idris Elba

4. Aidan Turner

5. Damian Lewis

6. Henry Cavill

7. James Norton

8. Michael Fassbender

9. Clive Owen

10. Jason Statham

Globally for the year, Idris Elba tops the list, with Tom Hardy second.

Top 10 most searched "next Bond" actors globally in 2016:

1. Idris Elba

2. Tom Hardy

3. Tom Hiddleston

4. Damian Lewis

5. Henry Cavill

6. Aidan Turner

7. James Norton

8. Michael Fassbender

9. Jason Statham

10. Luke Evans

Betting habits also give an insight into the public's choice for the candidate and take us a little further away from the obvious choices.

"We’ve been taking bets on this market ever since Daniel Craig took the role and in that time we’ve taken over 5,041 bets amounting to just under £30,000 ($43,580) on 116 different individuals," Paddy Power's Feilim Mac An Iomaire told Mashable.

The bookmakers offer a range of choices, from the obvious (Hiddleston at 4/9) to the less likely (Jamie Dornan at 66/1) to the freakishly bizarre (politician and former Conservative party leader William Hague at 200/1).

Image: paddy power

Their list of odds throw up some intriguing possibilities. Tim Roth or Sam Riley taking up the mantle? We could just about see it. Alan Carr, not so much.

When compiling the list, Paddy Power starts with rumours and adds in people who are available as well as anyone who mentions the role publicly.

"Customers suggestions and requests also form the runners," Mac An Iomaire adds. "Interestingly we always receive a spike in these suggestions during awards season as customers look to back those who were photographed looking dapper as hell in a tux."

This man will never be Bond. Image: Getty Images

"Over the course of the last four years, the faves have been Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Sam Worthington, Orlando Bloom, Damian Lewis, Aidan Turner and Michael Fassbender. Of those, Tom Hardy and Idris Elba would be the constants with neither having been out of the top five since 2011."

More recently, 25% of total cash placed in the last month has been for Tom Hiddleston, Paddy Power say. At one point he was as short as 1/8 but he's since lengthened to 4/9.

Of course, odds are often wrong. Ellie Goulding was long favourite to record the Spectre theme, which went to Sam Smith in the end.

David Oyelowo has been mooted as Bond by Twitter users. Image: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

We also asked Twitter's data team for their insight. They sent over a top ten list in order of the most rumoured candidates, by matching actors' names to hashtags including #bond, #JamesBond and #007.

Twitter’s top 10 list in order of the most rumoured candidates to be the next Bond:

1. Idris Elba

2. Tom Hiddleston

3. Gillian Anderson

4. Tom Hardy

5. David Oyelowo

6. Damian Lewis

7. Henry Cavill

8. Jamie Bell

9. Luke Evans

10. Michael Fassbender

Idris Elba is again the clear winner here, with David Oyelowo also making an appearance.

Twitter says it's seen hundreds of thousands of tweets on the platform discussing who could become the next Bond.

Overall then, Tom Hiddleston and Idris Elba look like the ones to beat, if public interest is taken into account. But we wouldn't bet against Tom Hardy either.

Bond director Mendes, however, said this week it could be none of them.

"It’s not a democracy," he told an audience at the Hay Festival in Wales.

“It’s not the X Factor, it’s not the EU referendum, it’s not a public vote. Barbara Broccoli chooses who’s going to be the next Bond: end of story."

“Without that, there would be no Daniel Craig because public support for Daniel was zero."

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