He made the comments while promoting the much-anticipated Luther movie.
Idris Elba appears to have made a final decision in regard to whether he will be the next James Bond.
Even before Daniel Craig’s final outing as the legendary spy with 2021’s No Time to Die, the Luther star has been considered a major contender to replace him.
In the past, the 50-year-old has both played along with the 007 rumours and shut them down.
However, speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Tuesday (14 February), Elba seems to have taken himself out of the running for the role, citing his commitment to his character John Luther as the reason.
my name’s Elba, Idris Elba. pic.twitter.com/kEyyaVg8JX
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) August 12, 2018
Having played John Luther in the hit crime thriller series Luther for five seasons, Elba will reprise the part in a movie continuation titled Luther: The Fallen Sun, which will land on Netflix on 10 March.
“We’ve been working on the TV show for about 10 years and so the natural ambition is to take it to the big screen, and so we’re here with the first movie,” the actor said.
“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. I’m going to be John Luther. That’s who I am.”
The Fallen Sun revolves around a gruesome serial killer (Andy Serkis) terrorising London, all the while a now-disgraced Luther is stuck in prison.
“Haunted by his failure to capture the cyber psychopath who now taunts him, Luther decides to break out of prison to finish the job by any means necessary,” Netflix’s logline reads.
As for who will be the next Bond, Bullet Train and Kick-Ass star Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been touted as a potential frontrunner in recent months after reportedly taking part in a screen test.
Other names that have been floated around as contenders include Cillian Murphy, Daniel Kaluuya, Henry Cavill, James Norton, Jack Lowden, Regé-Jean Page and Tom Hardy.
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