Ben Whishaw says he knows two actors who would be ‘ideal casting’ for Bond

Ben Whishaw has said that he wants to see a gay actor play James Bond.

The British performer appears in No Time To Die as Q, a role he first played in 2012’s Skyfall.

With No Time To Die marking Daniel Craig’s final outing as the secret agent, Whishaw was asked in a new interview with Attitude about an out gay man playing Bond.

“God, can you imagine? I mean, it would be quite an extraordinary thing,” he said. “Of course I would like to see that.

“I really believe that we should be working towards a world where anyone can play anything and it would be really thrilling if it didn’t matter about someone’s sexuality to take on a role like this. I think that would be real progress.”

Whishaw added: “But we’ll see, we’ll see where we’re at. I’m amazed by how much has changed just in the last five or six years, so we’ll see.”

Asked who he’d like to see take on the role, the Bafta winner said that while “there aren’t many out gay British actors”, either Luke Evans or Jonathan Bailey would be “ideal casting”.

“They’re both actors who it seems would be really capable of doing it and would be ideal casting. And it would be thrilling to see either of them do it,” he said.

“I wonder if either of them would want to – because it’s not just the demands of the role, but it’s like the demands of being Bond in the world and what it symbolises and how it would change your life.”

The race to see who will play Bond next is a hotly contested one, with Tom Hardy and Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page among the most popular names. You can see more contenders here.

No Time To Die is released on Thursday 30 September