Idris Elba Says He’s The Next James Bond?
Idris Elba says his hopes for the future of the Luther franchise are based on James Bond.
Since Daniel Craig decided to hang up his tux and retire his name as the beloved secret agent James Bond, fans have been abuzz with theories about who the next 007 will be. And while we’d love to tell you that we’ve found that man in Idris Elba, the actor, who has previously shot down James Bond rumors, is still sticking to his guns. However, he has recently come out with a comparison that would link his upcoming Luther: The Fallen Sun to the long-running British spy franchise.
During an interview with Total Film, Idris Elba revealed that he and the rest of the team behind the Luther movie were using the James Bond franchise as a “template for the type of film” that they wanted to create. Like Bond, The Suicide Squad actor said that his character, John Luther is “the hero” and “leading character” of his own action-packed world. He acknowledges that not all detective or spy-based crime films stick the landing when it comes to the solo secret agent type, but says that “Bond is one of them.”
Idris Elba went on to say that his hope for the big-screen story of Luther is that the project will be such a hit that it will turn into a James Bond-like franchise. The Wire star says that his “ambition” is for Luther: The Fallen Sun to hit the same high notes that Bond did, adding that he wants the story’s legacy to be held in a high “reverence.” Noting the way that Bond actors throughout the years have changed, he hopes the same could be possible for Luther with someone else picking up the torch when he’s “too old.”
A critically celebrated five-season series, Luther first broke out onto the scene in 2010, with staggered seasons following until the finale in 2019. There’s always been a clamor for the detective show to make its way back, and fans everywhere finally had their prayers answered when it was confirmed that a film follow-up would be dropped in 2023. While not much is known about the plot surrounding the Idris Elba-led feature, with the actor’s hopes of setting up a similar layout to what’s been seen in James Bond films, we can expect plenty of the same butt-kicking action and crime-based mysteries that we know and love from the series.
The call sheet also boasts a killer ensemble with Idris Elba being joined in the James Bond-like project by Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Dermot Crowley (The Death of Stalin), Jess Liaudin (Irma Vep), Lauryn Ajufo (Boiling Point), and Natasha Patel. The film has been a long time coming with rumors first beginning to circulate a decade ago in 2013. Since then, there have been several setbacks, but with the series continuing to move forward, there was never really a major push for it until it bowed out in 2019.
Idris Elba may not have James Bond on his mind, but the actor had an incredibly busy 2022. The Star Trek Beyond actor could be heard in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as bad-guy Knuckles and returned to the MCU for a post-credit cameo appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder. He also appeared in the survival feature Beast, and in George Miller’s fever dream fantasy Three Thousand Years of Longing.
His voice was also heard in the short film The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse, which leads us up to his next performance in Luther: The Fallen Sun.
