Idris Elba in talks to play a Bond villain?

22 November 2021, 13:47 | Updated: 22 November 2021, 13:48

Idris Elba at The Harder They Fall World Premiere — Idris Elba has been rumoured to be in talks to play a Bond villain. Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

The British actor has constantly been tipped to play 007, but now new rumours suggest he could be set to play a villain in the franchise.

Idris Elba is reportedly in "early" talks to play a Bond villain.

The Luther star has previously been tipped to take over from Daniel Craig as 007, but now it has been claimed he's held "informal" discussions about another role in the iconic spy franchise.

A source told The Sun newspaper: "Idris has had informal talks with the studio and he has been told there is a role in the next Bond film for him, if he wants it.

"He won’t be the title character, but they do recognise the amount of pull and respect he commands, and they want to work with him on a completely original character for the next instalment.

"It is still very early days for the conversations but, so far, it looks like it would be the role of a villain."

Daniel, 53, hung up his tuxedo in the latest film No Time To Die and several actors have been suggested for the legendary part, including Tom Hardy, Regé-Jean Page, Tom Hiddleston, and more recently, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

Though Elba has flirted with the idea of playing Bond and even teased fans during his DJ sets by playing the Bond theme song, he's also admitted that doing the role would put him in a "difficult position".

He mused: "James Bond is a hugely coveted, iconic, beloved character, that takes audiences on this massive escapism journey.

"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'. 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 colour of my skin.

"Then if I get it and it didn't work, or it did work, would it be because of the colour of my skin? That's a difficult position to put myself into when I don't need to."