Idris Elba is right – I wouldn’t watch a Black James Bond either

That’s it – the dream is over. After years of rumours, Idris Elba has ruled himself out of the race to be the next James Bond. I’m distraught – but also, I couldn’t be more impressed with his decision.

Elba has told GQ he was never a “realistic” contender for Hollywood’s ultimate male role. “Bond was written how he was written for a reason,” he says, enigmatically.

But this goes deeper than skin colour. Ian Fleming had a certain ideal in mind when he created his secret service commander. In the original novels, Bond is described as having Scottish and Swiss heritage, with dark hair and blue-grey eyes. Fleming always said he imagined him to look like Hoagy Carmichael, the slim, dashing 1930s songwriter.

From the start, 007 was written as white – and, as Elba says, filmgoers simply wouldn’t buy a Black Bond.

“In realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And [some audiences] won’t go for a Black male – an African male – playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period.”

Elba, 53, also makes another good point, saying that changing the character to fit current mores isn’t really necessary. “Bond is so unrealistic, so a hint of reality is good – but let’s not try and make it woke. I think you’ve got to be pure to what it is: escapism. Don’t try and answer the world’s taste. Just be Bond.”

I have to say I’m in full agreement. There’s no way I’d want to see a Black man portraying James Bond.

The character is quintessentially British. Fleming – a former British naval intelligence officer – loosely based the character on his own experiences: like his creation, he attended public school and was expelled from Eton. Now, that alone doesn’t exclude a Black actor from playing him (Black people can attend public schools and be expelled, too – I’m testament to that!), and there’s more to Bond than his appearance.

Commander Bond’s upbringing and heritage shaped how he has navigated his way through the world, visa-free, and with no trouble from customs in any place he visits. For that reason, I don’t even think an actor with a broad cockney accent like Jason Statham could pull it off. Bond wouldn’t be the same if he had been raised on a multicultural council estate and saw minorities as his equal.

It wasn’t that Fleming had never met any Black people – he wrote most of the novels from Goldeneye, his home in Jamaica – yet portrayed island culture as reflecting an almost paternalistic dynamic between white British masters and deferential local helpers, all reassuringly frozen in a colonial era.

Some may argue that casting a Black actor in the Bond role would expand the world view of what it means to be British – but I believe this would actually be a reductive move. We should be creating more characters that better represent the modern world, not retrofitting the old ones to suit it.

Elba’s Bond might also be problematic in a different way. What if the character was required to arrive in a Middle Eastern or African country and use his licence to kill for King and Country? Or to be shown running through a Russian city when a Black man can’t even walk through rural England without turning heads?

In bowing out of the Bond race, Elba’s use of the word “woke” has caused some upset, reigniting a debate about who gets to play which characters. If he can respect the fact 007 is white, should he not also show equal deference to African-America characters and refuse such roles himself? (Elba has spoken about this before, dismissing it an “unintelligent argument”.)

The fact Elba was recently given a knighthood – a moment that lead to some saying he had, in effect, “sold out” – has added another dimension to the debate about playing Bond, that most British of all film roles. Opinions vary on whether Black people should even accept ‘Empire” accolades, some believing they glorify a history of colonialism, slavery and the oppression of Black and Brown people. Others see Elba’s knighthood as a full-circle moment.

If any Black Briton were able to take on the Bond role, I admit there is none finer than Idris. But he doesn’t want us to entertain the possibility any more, and he’s given his reasons why. Let’s all just live and let that idea die.