James Bond: Idris Elba Issues Final Statement on the Role

Idris Elba is tired of addressing those James Bond rumors. In a recent appearance on Jemele Hill Is Unbothered, the actor decided to clear the air one and for all. Since the moment Daniel Craig announced that he was hanging up his tuxedo, speculation has run rampant about what could be next for the franchise. 007 is still very popular and it's not like the character was going to be retired. However, a lot of fans would like to see a shakeup with the role. Elba is a beloved star and fits some of the profile for Bond. However, the actor isn't exactly chomping at the bit to make the fancast a reality. He told the sports journalist that he expects the question in some form or fashion now. Reporters know that he will answer it slightly different every time. Despite that fact, he wants to clear up why he's going to try and avoid addressing it for now. Check out what he had to say down below.

"I have no more answers for it. I just tell people 'aw, don't ask me that.' Because a lot of times it's really lazy journalism," Elba explained. "And people try to use it as clickbait like 'what's he gonna say this time?' I try to say the same things. Every now and then I just tease them, but every now and then I'll give them some philosophy on why I don't want to do it or why it's a rumor. But most times now I tend not to talk about it."

Bond Producer Barbara Broccoli told Deadline that there's no front runner yet, because no one is in the running. They're still very early in scripting out the next 007 iteration. Besides the fact that they only want men playing the character, there are a ton of avenues for the team to explore. 

"Nobody's in the running," Broccoli recently said about the next Bond star. "We're working out where to go with him, we're talking that through. There isn't a script and we can't come up with one until we decide how we're going to approach the next film because, really, it's a reinvention of Bond. We're reinventing who he is and that takes time. I'd say that filming is at least two years away."

"He can be of any color, but he is male," Broccoli explained not too long ago. "I believe we should be creating new characters for women — strong female characters. I'm not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that."

Would you like to see him as Bond? Let us know down in the comments!