Riz Ahmed's New TV Show 'Bait' Explores the James Bond Audition Frenzy

The world is waiting to learn who’ll play James Bond in Amazon’s first movie with the franchise—and a new Prime Video series is capitalizing on the moment. Called Bait, the series stars Riz Ahmed as struggling actor Shah Latif, who auditions to be the next actor to don 007’s suit. With Bond being such a sought-after role, his going to the auditions goes viral, and soon it becomes gospel that he’s going to book the part. Or at least, it’s gospel to his family and friends, as seen in the clip below. The reactions among them run the gamut from pride to confusion (“Did Daniel Craig die?” asks Shah’s father, which… technically yes) to thinking about the paycheck to come. Bait takes place over the four days between Shah’s audition and learning whether he’ll actually book the part. In that time, everyone’s going to have something to say about this news, which will be pretty accurate to casting someone as big as James Bond. Since No Time to Die, there’s been so much speculation about who’d be next to play him and who fans would want to play him, like Idris Elba and Henry Cavill. Denis Villeneuve’s supposedly not begun his search yet, but you’ve likely heard rumors and speculation over the past year about young actors like Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Callum Turner being pursued or up for consideration. Look for Bait and all its six episodes to hit Prime Video on March 25. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.