3 min readLos AngelesJun 8, 2026 06:56 PM IST For over a decade, James Bond casting stories have followed Idris Elba but the British star says there was never any truth in them and he is not even sure the fictional spy should change. “It was never legit. It was always just a rumour,” Elba told GQ in an interview. The stories of Idris Elba being the first Black Bond started to emerge after the 2008 US presidential elections when the then Bond, Daniel Craig, said Barack Obama’s victory suggested that they had reached the stage for a new kind of Bond. Elba believes fans took Craig’s comments seriously and it just spiralled into something else. “I’ve always felt that it’s not a realistic thing. James Bond was written how he was written for a reason. But I was complimented by it. And also, I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And (audiences) won’t (all) go for a Black male, an African male, …