Idris Elba Says He Will Not Be The Next James Bond

With the release of the latest James Bond movie, No Time To Die, Daniel Craig's era of playing the iconic 007 spy came to an end. Speculation about the next Bond had started after the previous film, Spectre, hit the theatres. Craig had made it clear that he would "rather slash his wrists" than be in another James Bond film but was convinced to reprise his role one last time. 

The role is up for grabs now and many names including that of Tom Hardy, Regé-Jean Page, Idris Elba, Henry Cavill, Lashana Lynch have been brought up in discourse about the next James Bond.

Taking himself out of the race now is Idris Elba. Fans believed that Elba had great chances of being the front runner as the next Bond. The odds seemed to be in his favor but at the recent premiere for his new Netflix film, The Harder They Fall, he dismissed the possibility. "No, I'm not going to be James Bond," Elba stated, as reported by Express UK. But when he was asked if he would at least like to take the role, he responded: "Who wouldn't?" He added, "How amazing would it be to have a Black James Bond? It's a sign of the times when we can stop talking about black, white, and color."

For the past six decades, the seven actors who have played the role have all been White men. The producers have not yet started the process of auditioning for the next James Bond. Fans were hoping they would change things up a bit and cast a woman to be the next Bond. But Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who co-wrote No Time To Die, and producer Barbara Broccoli, have made it clear that it will be a man. "He can be of any color, but he is male," Broccoli stated. "I believe we should be creating new characters for women - strong female characters." She added that she does not want to take a male character and have a woman play it.

This narrows the choices for the next Bond to men and chances are it's going to be a White man. Cavill has even come forward to state that he would be thrilled to step into the role of James Bond, adding that, if that is off-limits, he would even love to play a Bond villain. In fact, back in 2006, after Pierce Brosnan stepped down from the franchise, the producers were on the lookout for a new Bond for Casino Royale and director Martin Campbell had mentioned that Cavill was the only actor besides Daniel Craig in serious contention for the role at the time. He was passed over for the role because he was too young. But now with a few more years of experience and success in his roles as Superman and Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher, he may be able to finally claim that role.