James Bond Producers Confirm Major Actor Is ‘Part of the Conversation’ for Next 007 Movie

In the past few years, there’s been a lot of talk about who would take over the role of James Bond following Daniel Craig’s tenure. Now, film producers have confirmed that a major actor is “part of the conversation’ for the next 007 movie. During an interview on Deadline’s Crew Call podcast, James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson revealed that actor Idris Elba has been discussed as a possible contender for the role. “We know Idris…he’s a magnificent actor,” Broccoli said, teasingly. Elba has long been a fan-favorite to be the next 007, and in a previous Vanity Fair interview he stated that, if asked, he would absolutely jump at the chance to portray the British super spy. 

“Of course, if someone said to me, ‘Do you want to play James Bond?’ I’d be like, ‘Yeah!’ That’s fascinating to me,” Elba said. “But it’s not something I’ve expressed, like, ‘Yeah, I wanna be the black James Bond.’” He then went on to speak candidly about those who criticized his potential casting simply due to the fact that he is a Black man. “You just get disheartened,” he said. “When you get people from a generational point of view going, ‘It can’t be.’ And it really turns out to be the color of my skin. And then if I get it and it didn’t work, or it did work, would it be because of the color of my skin? That’s a difficult position to put myself into when I don’t need to.”

In addition to Elba, a number of other actors have been rumored for the role of Bond, including Game of Thrones alum Richard Madden, who most recently starred in Marvel’s . While in attendance at the Emmys FYC event for BBC and Netflix’s Bodyguard, which he also stars in, Madden was asked about the reports that he would be the next 007. “That’s a lovely, flattering rumor that is on the Internet. And at that end, that’s all it is: a lovely, flattering rumor. But no, I’m not,” Madden stated, as reported by IndieWire.

The rumors that Madden would take over the Bond franchise after Daniel Craig exits first emerged in October 2018, with a sourse telling Uproxx that he was who producers had their eye on. “Richard Madden is set to be offered the chance to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond, according to industry sources,” the source said. “It is understood that Barbara Broccoli, the executive producer at Eon Productions who has the final say on all Bond characters, is likely to approach Madden in the next few days.”