Idris Elba might be right, maybe we can’t have a Black James Bond because it’s just so ugly right now

The race to be the next James Bond is well underway after renowned British casting director Nina Gold was hired to find the actor who will slip on the super spy’s tuxedo.

Even as it went through waves of speculation since Daniel Craig officially gave back his licence to kill in 2021, Idris Elba’s name has never left the conversation.

At 53 years old, Elba has long aged out of real contention. It’s widely expected that the next Bond will be an actor in their late 20s or early 30s who will be able to carry that role for at least a decade.

But that collective desire to see Elba — officially, Sir Idris after he was knighted earlier this year — be Bond has never waned.

Elba has many facets to his persona — he can be goofy in comedies, he can be cool as a DJ, he can be menacing as a villain — but the thing he has above all is gravitas. Bond has gravitas.

For a lot of people, the fact Elba is Black is only relevant in that it would be exciting to see someone different embody a character that has become one of the most potent cultural symbols of the British empire.

But this weekend, Elba gave an interview to GQ that not only kiboshed the possibility after 15 years of wish-fulfilment among the fandom, but also suggested that now, in 2026, the idea of a Black Bond is still a bridge too far.

Just to be clear, it’s Elba himself saying that he doesn’t see a Black Bond happening.

He told GQ, “It was never legit. It was always just a rumour.

“I’ve always felt that it’s not a realistic thing. James Bond was written how he was written for a reason. But I was complimented by it. And also, I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that.

“Bond is big all over the world. And (audiences) won’t (all) go for a Black male, an African male, playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period.

“Bond is so unrealistic, so a hint of reality is good, but let’s not try and not make it woke. I think you’ve just got to be pure to what it is: escapism. Don’t try and answer the world’s taste. Just be Bond.”

Let’s unpack that, because there are two elements to it.

The first is that Bond is a cultural icon all over the world, and that the conversation around racial representation is not at the same level everywhere. Elba specifically uses language such as “markets”, which highlights that movies are not just a cultural project but a commercial product.

Sometimes, yes, you do have to meet the market where it is, as depressing as that can be when you’re talking about a piece of commercial art that has the potential to change and evolve the cultural conversation.

Even if you take the examples of the primary English-language markets of the US, the UK and Australia, a Black Bond would not be as easily accepted today as it was even seven or eight years ago.

We’ve all seen the discourse around race devolve, and the surge of anti-immigration sentiment viciously targeted towards people who are not white or visibly “belonging” to a politically dominant culture.

It’s a huge professional and personal risk to be the first Black Bond actor, who will, sadly, inevitably, be the subject of horrific trolling, commentary and, likely, death threats. That’s not hyperbole, we’ve seen it happen before.

Don’t forget the deranged reaction from some parts at the news that Lashana Lynch, a female Black actor, had been cast in a role in No Time to Die that temporarily carried the designation of 007, not even the Bond name.

The second part is what Elba said about Bond being unrealistic and escapist, and that you don’t need to make it “woke”.

It’s slightly disappointing that Elba used the word “woke” as a negative, but let’s take it in good faith, and also accept that unfortunately it has been co-opted by regressive forces that turned that word in the mainstream into a derogatory label.

Bond does have his origins in deeply problematic lore. Ian Fleming’s books are full of racist, homophobic and misogynistic tropes, some of which bled into the movies. The books were published in the 1950s and 1960s, which is not an excuse but an explanation.

Bond is a creation of British imperialism and self-perceptions of cultural superiority, but the character has evolved over time.

Sean Connery’s Bond is not the same as Roger Moore’s Bond is not the same as Daniel Craig’s Bond.

In the post-9/11 era, Craig’s Bond was physically scrappier and grittier, in part because of the popularity of the Bourne movies, and he displayed overt emotion and pathos, something which had only really been prioritised in Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969, George Lazenby’s only outing as the super spy.

As a cultural icon, Bond has to evolve or he becomes a cultural relic. You can still be escapist fun and reflect a changed Britain.

But maybe you can’t right now. Reform UK has seen rising support all over Britain, and tragic crimes such as the killing of Henry Nowak has been shamelessly twisted and exploited to become a flashpoint on so-called anti-white discrimination instead of a good faith investigation into police conduct and procedures.

Nowak’s parents have asked their son’s death not be used to create further division.

The volatile social environment of the UK and elsewhere including Australia, is not an ideal space for a Black Bond. You only get one shot at the first Black Bond, and right now, it’s too ugly and nasty for it to not become a political football.

The portrayal of Bond by a Black actor is not the thing that would make the franchise not escapist fun, but the inevitable culture war discourse would.

Not long ago, it felt as if there was progress in diversity of representation on screen from stories being made in the US, UK and Australia.

Armando Iannucci, the creator of Veep and The Thick of It, had very deliberately filled his ensemble for his 2019 adaptation of The Personal History of David Copperfield – and you can’t argue that Charles Dickens works aren’t incredibly British – with colourblind casting.

Dev Patel was in the lead of David Copperfield, Benedict Wong played Mr Wickfield and Rosalind Eleazar, who is Black, was cast as his daughter. There is no explanation in the story as to why these related characters are not the same ethnicity, no one is at pains to spell out why.

You don’t need to, you just go with it. As Iannucci said at the time, “Let’s just cast whoever we think is the best person for the part, because it struck me that if I didn’t do that, then I wasn’t casting from 100 per cent of the acting community.

“Many people have commented on how natural it seems, which was the idea. It’s something that’s been done in theatre for the past five to 10 years, and there are so many great actors coming onto the scene.”

He’s right in that it is common practice in the theatre, and many audiences have for years been happy to accept it.

This is different from colour-specific casting, which is what Bridgerton or Hamilton have done, by inserting racially diverse characters into a world in which they were not traditionally represented, and have that be part of those characters’ stories, or as a feature of the extra-textual conversation.

Elba has played the UK Prime Minister and the US President (in the same year, and seemingly without backlash), and he has played characters that have been presented as canonically of Caucasian appearance, for example Heimdall in the Marvel Comics.

In that same GQ interview, he acknowledged that in the release he was ostensibly promoting, Masters of the Universe, he plays a character, Man-At-Arms, who was drawn with a Caucasian-seeming face in the 1980s animation.

“Talk about recasting. I was a bit conscious about it,” Elba said. “But then I was like, ‘What are you talking about?! Man-At-Arms could be any colour! He’s got green legs, for god’s sake!’.”

But somehow, today, James Bond is different.

Not because it’s wrong or “woke” to cast a Black actor, but because the discourse it would spark is just too exhausting and horrible. Elon Musk would get on his high horse. No one wants to see that.

That’s not a problem with a potential Black Bond. That’s a problem with the world we live in right now. Hopefully it won’t always be like that.