‘Idris Elba as James Bond’ casting rumors: a complete, turbulent timeline
polygon.com“Who should play James Bond?” is perhaps the ultimate casting conversation. Since 1967’s You Only Live Twice, which starred a grown-tired Sean Connery, the question has floated in constant orbit around the series. Connery’s exhaustion with Bond led to the one-and-done casting of George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, then saw the OG 007 return for Diamonds Are Forever.
This back and forth, which eventually culminated in Roger Moore starring in Live and Let Die, established Bond as a malleable role, one which would and could change shape with each actor. And in the wake of 2021’s No Time to Die, which wrapped up the Daniel Crag era of Bond, the debate has cropped up again. Who should be Bond? Longtime franchise producer Barbara Broccoli has wonderful things about a perennial replacement candidate: Idris Elba.
“We know Idris … he’s a magnificent actor,” Broccoli told Deadline’s CrewCall podcast. She noted that The Wire and Luther star has “been part of the conversation, but it’s always difficult to have a conversation when you have somebody in the seat,” Broccoli said.
That somebody has been Craig, who broke a much smaller barrier than “First Black Bond” by becoming the first blond Bond in 2005’s Casino Royale. That such a detail was even noted — ”Connery backs blond Bond” went the Guardian headline — gives a sense of how carefully the character’s identity has been tracked.
A lot has happened between 2005 and 2021, when Craig’s run ended in explosive fashion in Die Another Day, including the 2008 election of Barack Obama, which seems to have kickstarted the first public discussions of a Black Bond. When attending the Italian premiere of Quantam of Solace, Craig said that “after Barack Obama’s victory I think
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