Idris Elba rules himself out from James Bond race

The actor's been heavily rumoured to take the role

Idris Elba has seemingly ruled himself out from becoming the next James Bond.

At the premiere for The Harder They Fall, produced by rapper Jay-Z, Elba denied he was in contention as a potential successor to Daniel Craig’s 007.

Asked by ITV London if he’d play the spy, Elba replied: “No I’m not going to be James Bond.”

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Pressed on whether he’d like to take on the role at some point, he added: “Who wouldn’t?”

Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig as James Bond in ‘No Time To Die’. CREDIT: Universal

“It’s a sign of the times when we can stop talking about black, white, and colour,” Elba replied when asked how amazing it would be to have a black James Bond.

Elba has numerous projects lined up over the next few years, including voicing Knuckles in Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and starring in Three Thousand Years of Longing, a fantasy romance flick from Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller.

There’s no confirmation on who’ll next play James Bond, but actor Ben Whishaw, who has played tech wizard Q in the last three films, recently said he’d like to see a gay actor take up the role.

“Of course, I would like to see that,” Whishaw said. “I really believe that we should be working towards a world where anyone can play anything and it would be really thrilling if it didn’t matter about someone’s sexuality to take on a role like this.”

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He added: “I think that would be real progress. But we’ll see, we’ll just see where we’re at. I’m amazed by how much has changed in the last five or six years, so we’ll see.”

In NME’s four-star review, No Time To Die is described as a “surprisingly emotional final fling” for Daniel Craig’s Bond.

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