A few years back, fans of Idris Elba and the James Bond franchise rallied to get the actor to take over the role of 007, and now a video from 1995 has resurfaced showing just how long Elba has been a fan of the film series.
In a clip originally posted by a James Bond fan account, a 23-year-old Idris Elba showed up in a publicity video for GoldenEye, featuring Pierce Brosnan’s first of four films in the role. Fans were asked at the cinema what they thought of the movie after watching it when it first released in the fall of ’95, with many praising Brosnan.
“He’s really good,” Elba says in the video, starting at the 25-second mark below. “He’s got all the charm, and he’s got all the looks, you know what I mean. And he’s fit, he’s strong and blah, blah, blah—yeah, he’s alright, he’s alright.”
Brosnan helped revive the franchise after over six years dormant, by far the series’ longest time away from theaters. As for Elba, his first few TV acting roles came that same year and the year prior, and he’s been in demand basically ever since.
Fan speculation that Elba would take over the role after Daniel Craig reached a frenzy in 2018, prompting the Suicide Squad star to deny the rumors multiple times. “Am I looking at the next 007?” he was asked in one notable video, to which he replied simply, “No.”
Nothing has stopped fans from hoping Elba at least shows up in a Bond film at some point, even if he’s not taking on the titular role.
“I know the rumors about Bond have always chased me,” he said earlier this year in an interview with Capital Xtra. “Listen, my poor mum is like, ‘One day you’re going to get it!’ I was like, ‘Mum, I’m good, I’ve got Luther.”
Check out reactions to Elba’s take on Pierce Brosnan’s first film as James Bond—which of course spawned one of the most iconic first-person shooter games in history—below.