The world is ready to welcome a newJames Bond. In 2021, Daniel Craig said goodbye to the popular character inNo Time to Die, his last adventure as the 007 after six movies with him as the famous secret agent. Now MGM is looking for a new actor to inherit the role, but that’s no easy task.
Many celebrities have been named by fans as their top choice to play the part, with actors like Henry Cavill, Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Tom Hardy or Aaron Taylor-Johnson being the most popular ones. However, a new actor has recently been added to the list of contenders, especially after a great performance in one of the most acclaimed series of the past years.
Paapa Essiedu joined the cast ofBlack Mirrorin one of the episodes of the latest season of the Netflix hit series, and now is one of the many names attached to the franchise.In an interview with The Times, the actor addressed the subject, specifically talking about diversity being an important part of the decision of choosing a new star, when asked if casting him as the nextJames Bondcould be taken as a step forward on this matter:
“Do you want to base it on whether James Bond is going to be black… or south Asian or east Asian? Does that mean that diversity is going the right way if the profits end in the pockets of the same people? It’s too multilayered a test study, so it’s not a question I can answer or really want to answer.”
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Idris Elba Doesn’t Want to Play James Bond Because “It Became About Race”
Essiedu is not the first actor that has spoken about how the diversity thing has become a problem for theJames Bondfranchise, Idris Elba has done it too. The star ofHijackhas been one of the fan favorite actors to take over the role since even before Daniel Craig left. And although he considered it a huge honor, with the passing of time he started to lose interest in the idea, specially because of the whole issue about diversity.
While participating on the Smartless podcasta few months ago, Elba reveal he doesn’t want to become the next 007 because it became about something beyond his acting skills:
“Essentially, it was a huge compliment that every corner of the world — except for some corners, which we will not talk about — were really happy about the idea that I could be considered. Those that weren’t 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.”
The most recent rumors about the 007 world have claimed that Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the top contender for the role, although this wasn’t confirmed by MGM or Amazon Studios, who have recently become allies to take many huge franchises to the screen, includingJames Bond.
