Riz Ahmed on Why James Bond is Obviously South Asian
The actor talks ‘Bait’, why being Brown feels like being stuck in a spy thriller, and bringing his full, messy self to the screen.
In 2021, Daniel Craig created shockwaves when he said he’d no longer play James Bond, the lethal British spy who fights villains around the world, drinks martinis, and is always around beautiful women. Ever since, people have wondered who the next Bond will be, floating prospects like Henry Cavill, Theo James, Jonathan Bailey, Jacob Elordi, and Regé-Jean Page. But if you notice a pattern: all but one are white.
In his latest project, a fast-paced six-episode series called Bait out on March 25, Riz Ahmed brings you inside the home of a British Pakistani family that grapples with this very premise. What if their Raja Beta, aspiring actor Shah Jahan Latif, became the next James Bond?
Actor, producer, and rapper Riz Ahmed sat down with The Juggernaut to chat about why being a spy is the most Brown thing ever, why we haven’t had a South Asian James Bond yet, what it might mean to “kill” a little part of yourself everyday, and what he does when folks mistake him for Dev Patel.