Next James Bond after Daniel Craig: Idris Elba odds SLASHED after THIS news

Next March, Craig begins shooting his fifth and final James Bond movie with director Cary Fukunaga. And while Bond 25 isn’t released until Valentine’s Day 2020, this hasn’t stopped speculation over who the 50-year-old’s replacement will be. According to Coral, Elba’s odds have been slashed from 8-1 to 4-1. Allegedly the reason for this is the news of his return to TV’s Luther on New Years Day.

A spokesman for the bookmakers said: “Luther is one of the nation’s favourites and its return has seen Idris Elba appear almost everywhere over the last few weeks.

“He’ll be back on our screens soon and fans clearly can’t wait, as they’ve been backing him to be the next 007 this week too.

“It’s clear that there are a lot of people out there that think he could well be the perfect person to be the next James Bond, despite the fact that he has played it down in the past.”

With Coral Elba is now the third favourite to replace Craig, just behind Tom Hiddleston at 6-4 and James Norton on 2-1.

When asked if he’d be a contender for any high-profile action films in the future, he was certainly keen.

He said: “Absolutely. I know a little bit of fisticuffs…”

“They don’t say that any more? I could use the old white glove [mimes slapping someone in the face with a glove] Oh, touche [laughs].

“No, I used to do a little bit of Muay Thai as a kid, a bit of boxing… So an action movie, a sci-fi action movie would be my favourite thing in the world to do.”