It seems that most people’s favorite choice to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond is Idris Elba. The Luther actor has been sitting at the top of fancast polls for years, so it seems that most wouldn’t mind if the iconic character’s race changed in the future. In fact, that’s now been confirmed in a U.S. survey, with the majority of Americans saying they’d support such a thing happening.
Morning Consult conduced a poll of over 2,000 people and found that 52% would be in favor of a black actor being the next person to pick up 007’s Walther-PPK. Conversely, folks are less sure about a Hispanic Bond, as 39% would be for it while another 39% wouldn’t, with 22% undecided. A majority of 41% don’t want an Asian Bond, though, while only 37% are up for a female Bond. Finally, a gay Bond is the least popular option with just 28% of voters in favor. That’s despite Pierce Brosnan giving the idea his blessing.
Even given the support for a black Bond, in particular, 51% of voters still believe that the franchise doesn’t need to diversify its hero in any way, shape or form and are happy for the English spy to remain a Caucasian male. We suppose most viewers are of the opinion that Bond was always intended to be portrayed that way, with Ian Fleming’s original literary creation being a white man and, though theories will tell you otherwise, all the various 007s are supposed to be the same person.
Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has also confirmed that she doesn’t believe in gender-swapping the character. “Bond is male. He’s a male character. He was written as a male and I think he’ll probably stay as a male,” she revealed two months ago. It seems that most agree with her, too, though notice that she doesn’t rule out changing the character’s race.
Idris Elba has repeatedly batted away rumors that he’s taking over the part, but who knows what EON are planning at this stage. For the moment, Daniel Craig remains 007 and will reprise the role for a fifth time in 2020’s Bond 25.
