The White Lotus Star Theo James Explains Why He Isn’t Right for James Bond

The White Lotus‘ Theo James explained why he isn’t exactly right for the role of James Bond. He talked to SirusXM’s Jess Cagle on the radio while promoting the latest season of the HBO drama. James did not mince words as the idea came up. Despite being a massive fan of Bond, he’s looking forward to the creative team really trying to play with the concept in a concrete way. Series producer Barbara Broccoli and her braintrust have been open about trying to freshen up the concept numerous times in recent interviews. So, James should be thrilled that this kind of move is already underway. However, that’s not going to stop the fan casting and speculation around who the next 007 will be. Every week brings another famous face that fans are convinced could be the perfect person to fill the role for another decade. Check out what he had to say right here.

“You know, I honestly think with the, I’m a big fan of, of this, the concept of it. And I love, you know, Casino Royal,” James explained on Sirius XM’s The Jess Cagle Show with Julia Cunningham. “I love some of the Sean Connery movies, but I think they need to do something else. Do you know what I mean? They need to really go with a, a reinvention of it in a different way and that wouldn’t be me.”

Reinventing James Bond After Daniel Craig’s Tenure

Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli had a long talk with Empire Magazine about what’s next for the long-running series. From the sounds of things, 007 is due for a bit of a a shakeup. Now, that doesn’t mean a wholesale departure from every single element of the franchise. But, the next time you see a man in that tuxedo on-screen, expect them to be a bit younger. Taking a break will also allow the creative team to really drill down into the stuff that makes this character go and assess what’s going on after the fact.

“When you change the actor you have to reimagine the direction the film’s gonna go in. When you hire an actor, you’re hoping you’re going to spend a decade at least with them and make four or five or six films with them. So you have to think through, ‘what is the trajectory? What is that actor going to bring? How are you going to move the series into another direction?’” Broccoli explained to the outlet before describing how difficult it can be to cast a role of this magnitude. 

“It’s not just flicking through Spotlight and saying, ‘Oh, there’s a guy who’s 6’1,’” Broccoli added. “We’re going to take our time. We want to get a sense of where we want to go with the series and we want to do that before we bring anybody else on. We’ll start the process probably with [writers] Rob [Wade] and Neil [Purvis] and we’ll see where we go!”

Who do you think should be the next James Bond? Let us know down below!