Glen Powell Says He Isn’t Right to Play James Bond for This Surprising Reason

Glen Powell is neither shaken nor stirred by the possibility of playing James Bond. 

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in a new cover story about his upcoming sports comedy series Chad Powers, Powell, 36, shot down the suggestion that he could inherit the big-screen role of 007 in no uncertain terms. 

“I’m Texan. A Texan should not play James Bond,” the Top Gun: Maverick star said. “My family and I joke around, I can play Jimmy Bond, but I should not be playing James Bond.”

The iconic MI6 agent, adapted for the big screen from Ian Fleming’s spy novels of the 1950s and ’60s, has been played only by English and Irish actors, most recently Daniel Craig. No casting has been announced for the upcoming James Bond film from Amazon MGM Studios that has Denis Villeneuve attached as director and Steven Knight as writer.

Powell’s recommendation? “Get an authentic Brit for that job,” he told THR. “That’s who belongs in that tuxedo.”

Powell, a leading man thanks to recent hits Anyone But You, Twisters and Hit Man, continues his streak with the Edgar Wright-directed Stephen King adaptation The Running Man (in theaters Nov. 14), a remake of the 1987 action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Chad Powers, co-created by Powell and Michael Waldron and based on a character from producer Eli Manning, premieres on Hulu Sept. 30. 

The series’ titular role, a disgraced football player going undercover, is “the hardest character” Powell has ever played, he told THR.

When asked if he’d like to try his hand at directing, Powell said it is “something I’d love to do,” adding, “But right now, I’m getting to be in film school, I’m getting to work with [Richard] Linklater and Lee Isaac Chung and J.J. Abrams and Edgar Wright. I’m working with my heroes.”

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As for who may be in the mix to play the iconic martini-drinking spy, guesses abound as fans await an official casting announcement. Taron Egerton, like Powell, has shot down the possibility, while Aaron Taylor-Johnson expertly side-stepped a question about it last December. Henry Golding, speaking to PEOPLE in June, called James Bond “every actor’s kind of nightmare.” 

Tom Holland admitted earlier this month that the role is “the pinnacle of working in our industry” for “every young British actor.”