THE SETUP
Bait is a limited six-part series created by and starring the illustrious British Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed. In it, his character, struggling London actor Shah Latif, auditions for the role of James Bond, amid public backlash and complicated family relationships. It’s a show about being Asian, being British, being a struggling actor, and being Bond. All at once.
On its face, you might clock it as Entourage, or How to Make It in America. And sure, Gus Khan helps here as it treads on some familiar ground. But Bait is asking a much greater question, and one I’m quite pleased Amazon is putting on screen: can you handle the idea that Riz Ahmed, or someone like him, might simply be the best man for the job?
“It’s almost as if the world must give him permission. And the show is brilliant in exactly that.”
WHY IT WORKS
The show gives us a multicultural, very brown Britain. That’s the setup, his colleagues, family, nemeses. It’s a multicultural world, and yet it is quintessentially British.
We also have a brown man as the de facto leading man, the polar opposite of the James Bond universe, which has long portrayed Europe as a deeply white place. There’s of course good reason for that historically, but here’s the challenge: go to any European city centre right now and tell me it isn’t multicultural.
I’ll wait.
And that’s not just true of Britain. The old Bond films were always more of a travel log than an ode to the nation anyway. James Bond spends very little time actually being British in the original novels. The world has moved. Bait is asking whether we have too.
The season unfolds over a few very compressed days, tight half-hour instalments that ratchet up both the tension and the emotional anxiety around Shah’s situation beautifully. The first half is intense and grounded. The final three episodes shift into something more absurdist and surreal, Michel Gondry territory, Science of Sleep energy, and despite one episode that goes a step further than it perhaps needed to. Still, the show benefits from the detour. That visual and tonal chaos reflects exactly what’s happening inside Shah. It earns it.
THE DEEPER CUT
A show exploring identity, race, masculinity, fame, self-worth, and public scrutiny in the cancel culture era isn’t new territory in 2026. Michaela Coel has played brilliantly in this space before Ahmed and his team. But with Ahmed drawing directly from his own experience as a British Pakistani actor, blending dark humour, industry satire, and psychological drama all at once, we end up somewhere far more layered and far more relatable. It’s for everyone who shows up in earnest, at least. Whether you look like Shah Latif or you absolutely do not.
One detail that deserves its own moment: Barbara Broccoli was approached before a single frame was shot. Ahmed would not move forward without her blessing. She gave her blessing and was a fan of what he was going to do. That matters. This is not a provocation. It is a conversation the Bond legacy itself was willing to have.
What lies beneath the satire is sharp and uncomfortable: a layered commentary on racism in Hollywood and the UK, on approval within communities, on the burden of representation, and on the impossible task of trying to please everyone while staying true to yourself. No matter which side of the next-Bond debate you’re on, whether your answer is Idris, Henry Cavill, or someone else entirely, this show is for you.
THE AMAZON QUESTION
Let’s not pretend Amazon don’t know exactly what they’re doing putting this out right now. We are deep in a Bond vacuum. No confirmed successor. No timeline. Constant frenzy around who will be the next Bond actor and the tabloid chasing that follows it. A franchise in a holding pattern. And into that silence, Amazon drops a six-episode series starring a British Pakistani actor playing a man who auditions for Bond, and asks the world to sit with that idea for three hours. To sit with a characterisation of the pre Casino Royale media frenzy and backlash that targeted Daniel Craig all those years ago
Smart. Very smart. Now, the question that lingers after the credits roll isn’t just whether Shah Latif deserves the role. It’s what Amazon intends to do about it. They’ve lit the fuse. Now we wait to see if there was any reason for it.
Bait is almost a masterclass, held back only by one episode that pushes the surrealism a step too far. I’ll let you find it. But what the show proves, clearly, is that Riz Ahmed has the range, the weight, and the magnetism to carry a franchise. The real question it poses isn’t whether Shah Latif deserves Bond. It’s whether this is truly the meritocracy we keep telling ourselves it is.
For my vote, he’s shown he can do it. The rest is on us.
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