With a new spot open in the legacy movie franchise of 007, the search is on to find the next actor to play James Bond. Certainly, those are some big shoes to fill—and many of them! There has been a total of six James Bond characters, all of which have been marvelous in their roles, Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.

There has been some speculation that Idris Elba may be the next Bond. Producer Barbara Broccoli said on a recent “Deadline” podcast episode that the 49-year-old British actor is definitely in the running to play the next 007.

“Well, we know Idris, I’m friends with him and he’s a magnificent actor,” said Broccoli. “You know, it’s been part of the conversation, but it’s always difficult to have the conversation when you have someone in the seat. I think we have decided that until No Time to Die has kind of had its run and Daniel has been able to, well, we’ve all been able to, reap the benefits of Daniel’s wonderful tenure, we’re not gonna think about or talk about anybody else, actors to play the role or storylines or anything. We just wanna live in the moment, the present.”

Elba isn’t entirely new to the running. Back in 2014, an email leaked from Sony Pictures executive Amy Pascal who had revealed that “Idris should be the next Bond.” This was after his name had already been bounced around quite a few times for the role.

However, some people have trouble with Elba being black, as the last six actors were white. Elba believes that’s the reason he likely hasn’t been chosen for the role yet.

“You just get disheartened when you get people from a generational point of view going, ‘It can’t be.’ And it really turns out to be the color of my skin,” Elba told Vanity Fair in 2019 in response to the backlash. “And then if I get it and it didn’t work, or it did work, would it be because of the color of my skin? That’s a difficult position to put myself into when I don’t need to.”

“James Bond is a hugely coveted, iconic, beloved character that takes audiences on this massive escapism journey,” headed. “Of course if someone said to me, ‘Do you want to play James Bond?’ I’d be like, ‘Yeah!’ That’s fascinating to me. But it’s not something I’ve expressed, like, ‘Yeah, I wanna be the Black James Bond.’ Because, by the way, we’re talking about a spy. If you really want to break it down, the more less-obvious it is, the better.”

Check out the video below for more on Elba’s acting career and why he may be a good fit for the new Bond.

Do you think Elba should be the next 007? Why or why not?