Idris Elba Says Longstanding James Bond Casting Rumor Was ‘Never Legit’

Idris Elba is closing the door, presumably for good, on the longstanding speculation surrounding his potential casting as the next James Bond.

In the actor’s own words, per a recently published interview with Hayley Campbell for British GQ, such talk was “never legit.” Still, the speculation has sustained for years, routinely resulting in titillatingly worded headlines amid ongoing debate over who will, and who won’t, be next to take on the 007 mantle.

“It was never legit,” Elba, who can currently be seen as Man-At-Arms in Mattel’s Masters of the Universe movie, told British GQ. “It was always just a rumor.”

Elaborating further, Elba expressed disinterest in the idea more generally, calling it “not a realistic thing” while pointing to the character’s origin.

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“James Bond was written how he was written for a reason,” he said. “But I was complimented by it. And also, I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And [audiences] won’t [all] go for a Black male, an African male, playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period.”

The Luther franchise star emphasized his point by arguing that merely “a hint of reality” would work in Bond stories, though “escapism” should remain the overarching aim.

“Let’s not try and make it woke,” he said, adding that Bond films shouldn’t “try and answer the world’s taste.”

Daniel Craig, the most recent Bond as of this writing, exited the franchise with 2021’s No Time to Die. Who will next step into the role remains anyone’s guess for now, though a few names—Jacob Elordi and Callum Turner among them—have been floated in the press, with the latter taking the lion’s share of attention.

For his part, Craig no longer seems particularly interested in who will ultimately secure the gig, telling an interviewer back in 2024, as was widely reported at the time, “I don’t care.”

At any rate, Denis Villeneuve, whose third Dune film arrives this December, has been tapped to helm the next Bond title. The director, a self-described “diehard Bond fan,” said last year that he aims to “honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come” with the upcoming film. The search for the next Bond, meanwhile, was officially underway as of last month.