Before names like Tom Hiddleston, Jamie Bell, Sam Riley and Aidan Turner entered the mix, it seemed like Idris Elba was the clear frontrunner to succeed Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond. He was the choice of then-Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal, the bookmakers’ favourite, and had the backing of former 007 Pierce Brosnan (although not so much Roger Moore, apparently).
Elba has previously said that he’d accept the role of the super spy if it was offered to him, although during a new interview on Good Morning America, the British star has suggested that he feels he may be too old.
“I keep saying if it were to happen it would be the will of a nation because there hasn’t been any talks between me and the studio about any of tha. But everywhere I go people want that to happen, so…. But if I’m really honest man, I think I’m too old for that man, running around in cars and ladies and martinis, who wants to do that? Sounds terrible.”
Elba is currently 43 years old, so he’s five years younger than Daniel Craig, and two year’s younger than Roger Moore was when he first appeared as Bond aged 45 for Live and Let Die. Of course, we don’t have a release date for Bond 25 yet, but it seems likely that we won’t see 007 back until 2018 at the earliest, at which point Elba would be pushing Moore for the record if he were to take on the role.
Who would you like to see as James Bond for the next movie? Is Elba right that he’s too old? Let us know in the comments below…
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Originally published July 23, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
