Another James Bond Hopeful Is Out Of The Running
Idris Elba has once again denied being selected as the new James Bond.
Now that Daniel Craig has finally retired from James Bond after bringing him back to life with Casino Royale way back in 2006, the search is on for someone to replace him as the world’s most famous cinematic superspy. There has been a lot of fan casting recently, including heavy rumors about Taron Egerton, but the most persistent rumor to emerge from fans is that Idris Elba would become the next onscreen Bond. However, in a recent interview with The Guardian, Elba spoke about this rumor, saying, “It’s a compliment and it’s an honour, but it’s not a truth.”
With his typically blunt style, Idris Elba shut down the rumor that he was going to be the next James Bond. However, that doesn’t mean we may not see him in a future Bond movie in some other capacity. In the same interview, he casually mentioned how he had spoken with Eon Productions heads Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson about a different matter other than him playing Bond.
Since Eon Productions exclusively focuses on producing Bond movies, it stands to reason they were talking with Idris Elba about appearing in one of their upcoming films. And if Elba won’t be our hero, he could very well make for a compelling villain. Over the years, he has performed well as everything from a minor antagonist in The Office to the major villain of Star Trek Beyond.
One thing that the interview touched on is the fact that Idris Elba doesn’t necessarily need or want to step into someone else’s major action franchise because he already has one that is still very much active. Elba first shot to international prominence as the title character of the BBC show Luther, and the devoted fanbase of that show has helped the franchise earn a recent movie, Luther: Fallen Son.
During the interview, Elba mentioned how he had ideas that will help him “take this franchise further and deeper,” implying that he would very much like to star in more Luther movies or even another series (assuming, of course, that the film is enough of a hit to warrant that).
Still, the interview made it abundantly clear why there have been so many rumors about Idris Elba playing James Bond in future movies. The charming actor mentioned how close he was to the producers…so close, in fact, that they were laughing at the casting rumors altogether, with only the three of them knowing how wrong everyone was. But he demurred about whether or not there were any previous discussions of him playing Bond, noting only that, in his mind, it had never been a real possibility.
And while Idris Elba and the interviewer joked about the idea that the popular actor was seemingly everywhere these days due to his multiple roles, it looks like much of Elba’s upcoming work will involve his voice rather than his famous face. Following the success of his performance as Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Elba is now reprising his role as Knuckles for a third film and a Sonic television series. He is also providing a voice for the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty, which gives us hope we might someday get Elba voicing James Bond in a video game rather than portraying him onscreen, meaning Elba and the Eon producers would get the last laugh after all.
