With speculation currently running rife, Alan Partridge is the latest public figure to speak out about who should be the next James Bond.Â
In a new in-character Q&A interview in The Guardian, the Steve Coogan creation was asked whether he himself would accept the offer to play the spy if the chance came around.Â
âWouldnât happen,â he replied.Â
âThereâs a sequence to the casting of 007. They choose an actor from one of the smaller UK nations, then from a non-British Commonwealth country and finally an Englishman â and repeat. Actor from smaller UK nation (Connery, Scotland), non-British actor (Lazenby, Australia), Englishman (Moore, England). Sequence completed, we go again: actor from smaller UK nation (Dalton, Wales), non-British actor (Brosnan, Ireland), Englishman (Craig, England).âÂ

âSo, you see, I couldnât be the next Bond. Itâll be James Nesbitt (Northern Ireland), Ryan Gosling (Canada), then an Englishman. Assuming Nesbitt and Gosling do three movies each (one every three years), the earliest I could take the role would be 2041, when Iâd be in my 80s. Thatâs almost certainly too old.â Â
âWhile I have ideas as to how the role could be slightly rewritten to accommodate the secret agentâs mobility and bladder issues, even then I think it very, very unlikely theyâd choose me. Given all that? Not going to happen ⊠probably not going to happen.âÂ
It is not just the identity of the actor playing the title role that has people speculating. This week, Christopher Nolan confirmed that he will not be directing the next instalment in the franchise, despite being a major fan.Â
He said there was âsadly no truthâ to those rumours, adding: âThe influence of those movies in my filmography is embarrassingly apparent. It would be an amazing privilege to do one,â Nolan said. âAt the same time, when you take on a character like that youâre working with a particular set of constraints.âÂ
Earlier this month, Bond producer Greg Wilson confirmed that they are not yet working on the next film at this stage. âThere will be another Bond some day, but weâre not actively developing it,â he said.Â
And with rumours flying around about who might play the next Bond, series producer Barbara Broccoli addressed the new phase of the story following the characterâs death at the end of No Time To Die by saying, âItâs gonna take a while for us to get â you know, itâs a whole new reinvention. So itâll take some time.âÂ
A poll conducted over the summer by William Hill Vegas found that the UKâs top choice for the next James Bond is Idris Elba, just ahead of Tom Hardy and Henry Cavill.Â
Broccoli also recently commented: âThereâs a big, big road ahead reinventing it for the next chapter and we havenât even begun with that.âÂ
Recently, the Amazon Prime Video series 007: Road to a Million series launched, which sees contestants take on Bond-inspired challenges around the world for a chance to win a ÂŁ1million cash prize.Â
Successionâs Brian Cox hosts the show, and he recently admitted that he thought he had signed up to be the next Bond villain when he agreed to the show.Â
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