Whoever the next James Bond may be, it certainly won’t be Idris Elba. The Luther star himself underlined this this week in a cover interview with British GQ. If it were up to Elba, the rumors about his possible entry never had any serious reason to exist.
Rebuttal
Even before Daniel Craig performed his final feat as the British super spy in 2021, Elba was one of the actors tipped as a possible successor. When the rumors persisted afterwards, he felt urged to respond, and he did so in two ways: on the one hand, he indicated that he was close to the producers of the franchise, on the other hand, he emphasized that the rumors were not based on truth.
Another Bond
Revealed last fall Deadline an important detail of the successor that the makers would have in mind: 007 would in any case become a young British actor. With that revelation, several actors dropped out, including Elba. And if the actor’s latest interview is to be believed, there’s a clear reason for that:
I always felt that it was unrealistic to expect this (…) the series was written that way for a reason. And the audience won’t go for a black man, an African man, playing Bond. They prefer not to see it that way in their culture. That’s just how it is
Idris Elba
‘Woke’ or not
The fact that Elba does not see any opportunities for himself as the super spy does not mean that he believes Bond should change. “Bond is completely unrealistic, so it’s okay to have some real stuff seep through every now and then, but let’s not try to make it ‘woke’.” That last comment is striking in light of the role of Lashana Lynch, who in No Time to Die made her appearance as Nomi, a female sidekick of 007. The actress received a lot of hate reactions online after the release of the film, precisely because the makers wanted to make the franchise purposefully ‘woke’.
Still ‘No Time to Die’ via TMDb
7.3 Watch on Pathé Thuis • In ‘No Time to Die’, James Bond has left his turbulent life as a secret agent behind him and leads a quiet life in Jamaica.
Active enough
Bond or not, Idris Elba certainly does not sit still. The actor plays a role in the just-released fantasy adventure Masters of the Universe (2026) and will return to the Sonic series next year. The science fiction epic, directed by Elba himself, will be released at the end of this year Above the Below (2026) in theaters.
Still ‘Masters of the Universe’ via Filmdepot/Amazon Content Services LLC
Beeld: Still ‘Beast’ via TMDb
