Since then Heughan has batted away rumours and figured in endless polls, pitting him against a swath of leading men – and even, most recently, a woman.
Ask the coy Scot of his interest in the career-making casting and he tells The BINGE Guide: "Who wouldn't want to be 007? I haven't been asked but I think it would be nice to have a Scottish James Bond again, whoever plays him next."
The decision will come down to producers, Barbara Broccoli and her half-brother, Michael G. Wilson, who inherited the franchise and see the casting quest as a privilege.
Broccoli is open to taking Bond forward, but a gender swap may be a leap too far.
"He can be of any colour, but he is male," Broccoli told Variety. "I believe we should be creating new characters for women — strong female characters. I'm not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that."
In the meantime, Heughen will continue building his screen experience in a sixth season of Outlander, the filming of which has been pushed back while the UK takes control of its coronavirus crisis.
The actor says the quarantine restrictions had been unexpected but a bonus chance to breathe.
"It has honestly been an interesting time for me. The solitude and the downtime has suddenly given me time to reflect," he says, adding, "I'm going to try and find more time like this where I can have time for myself, time to work on myself rather than just keep going and keep working."
He says his Outlander character would cope well with the confrontation of Covid-19.
"I think he would survive very well – certainly if he was in the woods or something. He's a man of the land and has quite many skills, so he could survive. However, he's a social man too, so he'd find that part tough."
Heughen brings a natural sense of his heritage that would suit the 007 role, given its 58-year history.
"I love history. I'm surrounded by it all the time, certainly in Scotland. It's a real part of our culture. You just can't escape the castles, the landscape and the great battles that have been held there. You're pretty much walking among ghosts, especially in the big cities like Edinburgh."
And just like 007 needs his Bond girls, Heughen is quick to credit his Outlander co-star Catriona Balfe for making him better.
"She's always led from the front. She's intellectual, extremely intelligent and very giving and caring. I'm lucky we clicked from the start and were able to trust each other and have each other's back. There's always a weird time when we go away from shooting Outlander but we are always in contact. She will call me and I will text her but that first day back at work is almost like we are slightly shy of each other. Then we fall back into our routine, we laugh a lot, we talk rubbish and we're very childish. I couldn't be more thankful for such a great co-star."
