Glen Powell doesn’t want the license to kill.
The “Chad Powers” star, 36, shut down the possibility that he’s playing the next James Bond.
“I’m Texan. A Texan should not play James Bond,” Powell told The Hollywood Reporter in his joint interview with Eli Manning published Wednesday.
“My family and I joke around, I can play Jimmy Bond, but I should not be playing James Bond,” the actor added. “Get an authentic Brit for that job. That’s who belongs in that tuxedo.”
Powell’s been floated around as an option to replace Daniel Craig as the next 007. Other stars who have been in the conversation include Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Henry Cavill, Theo James, Regé-Jean Page, Harris Dickinson and Kingsley Ben-Adir.
Those men, unlike Powell, are all British.
The past James Bonds — Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Craig — all hail from the UK.
Since Craig’s last turn as the iconic spy agent in 2021’s “No Time to Die,” there’s been no official announcement about who will take on the role next.
In February, Amazon MGM Studios obtainined creative control of the James Bond franchise from Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who got the rights from the late Albert R. Broccoli.
Then in June, “Dune” director Denis Villeneuve was confirmed to helm the studios’ first Bond.
“I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory,” Villeneuve, 57, said after being named director. “I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come.”
“This is a massive responsibility, but also, incredibly exciting for me and a huge honor,” he added.
Like Powell, some actors have pulled themselves out of the race to be the next Bond.
“I think I’m too messy for that,” Taron Egerton told Collider last month. “I really love James Bond and particularly Daniel Craig’s tenure. But I think I wouldn’t be good at it.”
Idris Elba, for his part, said in 2023 that he got turned off from playing 007 when “it became about race.”
“Those that weren’t happy about the idea made the whole thing disgusting and off-putting, because it became about race,” Elba, 52, said on the “SmartLess” podcast. “It became about nonsense and I got the brunt of it.”
Craig, meanwhile, isn’t interested in which Hollywood man takes the Bond torch from him.
“I don’t care,” he bluntly told Variety last year.
