{"id":628848,"date":"2026-06-09T08:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/628848\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T08:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:09:11","slug":"idris-elba-explains-sad-truth-behind-long-running-james-bond-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/628848\/","title":{"rendered":"Idris Elba explains sad truth behind long-running James Bond rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Idris Elba<\/a> was neither shaken nor stirred by the rumours he\u2019d be the new James Bond<\/a> \u2013 according to the actor, the speculation \u201cwas never realistic\u201d due to his race.<\/p>\n

The Luther star\u2019s name was thrown in the mix when Daniel Craig<\/a> announced he\u2019d step down after playing the spy<\/a> one final time in 2021\u2019s No Time to Die, but Elba, 53, has revealed he never viewed himself as a \u201clegit\u201d option due to the character always being played by white men. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always felt that it\u2019s not a realistic thing,\u201d he told GQ<\/a>. \u201cJames Bond was written how he was written for a reason. But I was complimented by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018I\u2019ve\u2018I\u2019ve always felt that it\u2019s not a realistic thing\u2019: Elba says he was never truly in the running to play Bond (Getty)<\/p>\n

He added that, if he had been cast in the role, long-time fans of the franchise might not have liked the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, in realistic terms, some markets just don\u2019t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And [audiences] won\u2019t [all] go for a Black male, an African male, playing Bond. That\u2019s not what they like in their culture. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n

On whether a Black actor should be cast in the role, Elba doesn\u2019t think is vital, stating: \u201cBond is so unrealistic, so a hint of reality is good, but let\u2019s not try and make it woke. I think you\u2019ve got to be pure to what it is: escapism. Don\u2019t try and answer the world\u2019s taste. Just be Bond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elba, whose credits also include the TV dramas The Wire and Hijack, previously ruled himself out<\/a> of the running in 2023, saying he would never have accepted the opportunity as it \u201cbecame about race\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Craig stepped down as Bond in 2021 (Eon Productions)<\/p>\n

Appearing on the SmartLess podcast, hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, Elba described the offer to play the role as \u201cthe pinnacle\u201d, but added: \u201cThose that weren\u2019t happy about the idea made the whole thing disgusting and off-putting, because it became about race. It became about nonsense and I got the brunt of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The respected British casting director Nina Gold and the forthcoming Bond film\u2019s director, Denis Villeneuve, are currently auditioning actors to play the title<\/a>, five years after Craig concluded his tenure as 007.<\/p>\n

The actors considered frontrunners to play Bond, now that Amazon has taken ownership of the franchise, include Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Harris Dickinson, Jack Lowden and Louis Partridge. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-628848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}