Peaky Blinders' Cillian Murphy on replacing Daniel Craig as James Bond

Cillian MurphyGetty Images

"It should be a woman." Cillian Murphy unequivocally states he will not be the next James Bond, but the Peaky Blinders star has some ideas about who he thinks should replace Daniel Craig.

While Cillian Murphy has long been one of the bookies' favorites for taking up Daniel Craig's mantle as James Bond, the Peaky Blinders star is adamant that he will not be ordering a martini "shaken, not stirred" any time soon.

In a recent interview with The Guardian's Lanre Bakare for the premiere of Peaky Blinders season five, Murphy, 43, ruled himself out of the running.

When asked if he had a future with the Bond franchise, the Cork-born actor wryly observed: “The thing about it is, if you say anything about Bond it becomes the headline, right?”

Sure enough, the article's headline was about James Bond, even though Murphy spent the majority of the interview talking about Peaky Blinders, his early career, and Brexit.

About the James Bond gossip, Murphy had the following to say:

“Firstly, there’s a whole other industry which is completely separate from the film side of things, and that’s the bookies. The second thing I’d say is that I think it should be a woman, which rules me out.”

Last month, news leaked that Lashana Lynch will be the new 007 in the upcoming James Bond movie, but Daniel Craig will be reprising his role as James Bond, called out of retirement to face off with the newest villain, played by Bohemian Rhapsody's Rami Malek.

Cast members Léa Seydoux, Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, Naomie Harris and Lashana Lynch attend the "Bond 25" Film Launch at Ian Fleming's Home "GoldenEye", on April 25, 2019 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures)

However, it has not yet been revealed if Lynch, who recently appeared as fighter pilot Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel, will be taking over the Bond franchise entirely, or if someone else will be the new James Bond.

In 2018, Bond executive producer Barbara Broccoli told The Guardian that there would never be a female James Bond.

With this in mind, Murphy still remains a bookies' favorite, along with Tom Hiddleston, Richard Madden, Tom Hardy, and Idris Elba.

In the same interview, Murphy, who lived in London with his wife, artist Yvonne McGuinness, and their two children for 14 years before returning to Ireland in 2015, had some very strong words on Brexit:

“The Good Friday agreement was predicated on there not being a border, and to think that you can hold Ireland to ransom; you can’t."