Idris Elba Was 'Disheartened' By the Backlash Against a Black James Bond

Over the last week or so there's been a drip-drip-drip of new info from the Bond 25 set, including reports of another apparently abandoned name for the project, but now we've circled back on a well-worn talking point: the idea of Idris Elba as the next James Bond.

The man himself isn't particularly enamoured of the idea these days, and has admitted to feeling "disheartened" by reactions from people who say they could never accept a black actor as Bond, and wary of it being a "difficult position to put myself into when I don’t need to". That's not to say he doesn't get the pull of it, though.

"James Bond is a hugely coveted, iconic, beloved character, that takes audiences on this massive escapism journey," Elba told Vanity Fair. "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."

While the profile points out that while Elba "doesn't love" talking about Bond - entirely understandably - he did note that a black Bond might make sense from an operational perspective.

This story originally appeared on Esquire.com. Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.