Idris Elba has revealed that he was put off potentially playing James Bond due to the racist backlash at the prospect of a person of color playing 007.
Since it was announced that Daniel Craig's final appearance in the hit spy franchise would be in 2021's No Time To Die, several actors have been rumored to be taking on the titular role following his exit.
One of those names being speculated was initially the 50-year-old Luther actor, but he ruled himself out of the running earlier this year, stating: "You know, a lot of people talk about another character that begins with 'J' and ends with 'B', but I’m not going to be that guy," per Huffington Post.
If Elba did take over as the new 007, he would have made history as the first-ever Black actor in the role, however, in a recent interview he opened up about how the racist abuse made him not ever want to accept the part in the future.
Appearing on the SmartLess podcast, Elba spoke about the rumors, saying: "I was super complimented for a long time about this. We’re all actors and we understand that role is one of those coveted [roles]. Being asked to be James Bond [would be] like: 'OK, you’ve sort of reached the pinnacle.'"
The Wire star went on to say that due to the popularity of the role, it was something "the whole world has a vote in," before talking about how the backlash brought him down from the high of being potentially in the running for it.
"Essentially, it was a huge compliment that every corner of the world except for some corners, which we will not talk about, were really happy about the idea that I could be considered," he continued. "Those that weren’t happy about the idea made the whole thing disgusting and off-putting because it became about race. And it became about nonsense and I got the brunt of it."
This isn't the first time the actor has spoken about the criticism, as back in 2019, Elba revealed to Vanity Fair that he'd found the negative reaction to the idea of him playing Bond "disheartening".
"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. 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," he said.
As it stands, the new James Bond star is yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, the Beast actor's most recent role is headlining the Apple TV+ thriller series Hijack - which premiered on the streaming service on Wednesday (June 28).