We’ve heard it all before, but speculation built over the weekend that Luther’s Idris Elba may be the next actor to play the secret agent when Daniel Craig steps away from the role after Bond 25, which is due to start filming this December.
There’s not much to the rumor, just a tabloid report about something Bond producer Barbara Broccoli supposedly said, but people have run with it anyway, claiming Idris is a shoe-in for the role. Clearly the idea of playing the world’s most famous spy tickles Idris, as his tongue-in-cheek tweet suggested yesterday (August 12):
my name’s Elba, Idris Elba. pic.twitter.com/kEyyaVg8JX
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) August 12, 2018
Ooh, someone’s got a new filter. Needless to say, Twitter exploded in response.
Does this… mean what I think it means….. pic.twitter.com/Q1MPookHhW
— Red Betty (@LadyGouldian) August 12, 2018
Now, don’t get us wrong. We think Idris would be perfect as 007, and he’s been one of the forerunners, alongside Tom Hiddleston, Damian Lewis, Tom Hardy, Poldark‘s Aidan Turner, and McMafia newcomer James Norton, since Daniel Craig first expressed fatigue with the role in 2015.
It’s just he’s also going to be perfect in Turn Up Charlie, the new sitcom he’s making for Netflix, as the baddie in the Fast and Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw, and starring in a new, intriguing take on The Hunchback of Notre Dame, not to mention (how could we forget?) the upcoming fifth season of Luther.
And that’s not all: just last week, Variety reported Idris has been cast in Ghetto Cowboy, about a kid who discovers the world of urban horseback riding. And then there’s his burgeoning directorial career, which just got started with Yardie.
Phew. It seems to us like Idris has plenty going on without a huge, career-defining role like Bond. And sure enough, Idris undermined his earlier tweet with another one citing the name of a track by Public Enemy a few hours later:
Don’t believe the HYPE…
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) August 12, 2018
What. A. Tease.
Can you see Idris as Bond? Or do you think he’s toying with us?