Aaron-Taylor Johnson responds to Bond rumours after Idris Elba rules himself out

Perhaps it's no overstatement to say that James Bond is one of the most coveted roles in cinema. Yet, two years have passed since No Time To Die and it looks like we're nowhere closer to confirming who will become the classic super spy.

Responding to a more modern world, Daniel Craig weighed in on the possibility of Bond being a woman. “The answer to that is very simple. There should simply be better parts for women and actors of colour. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?” argued the actor. His point is pertinent, and as contenders step into and shirk out of the spotlight, there's one name that keeps popping up.

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Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Well, at this point, I wasn't going to say Idris Elba seeing that he's just ruled himself out of the running. In January, the rumour mill was working double time insinuating that the 32-year-old British actor had met with higher ups over his possible tenure as James Bond.

Variety cut to the chase in its interview with Taylor-Johnson, though he was more meek over what has and hasn't been said. "It’s flattering," he answered. "You can have something really positive [written about you], but you can also have something really negative that can circulate."

"You just want to stay in your lane, stay grounded, stay around the people that you love and love you back, and stay in that world. Because the moment you start believing the sh*t people say about you, you’ve lost your f*cking mind. You’ve lost it."

Taylor-Johnson ticks the boxes for a future Bond - he's slightly younger than the average age for the actors that have been Bond and he's got the professional depth to add a layer of emotional complexity. In any event, we'll be waiting to see if those aforementioned conversations bore fruit.