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The world's still waiting on the answer to a very pressing question.

Who will be the next James Bond?

In the meantime, the great Riz Ahmed has thrown his hat in the ring.

Well, fictually speaking anyway.

He created and stars in the whimsical comedy series Bait and plays an actor who's in the running for the role of 007.

But the path toward donning the tucks and driving the Aston Martin is paved with hurdles, family drama, relationship issues, and most of all, his own insecurities.

I'm Aisha Harris and joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour

is Vulture TV critic, Roxana Hadati. Hey, Roxanna, welcome back. Hey, thank you so much for having me.

Lovely to have you. And also with us is Jeff Yang. He's a cultural critic and author of The Golden

Screen, The Movies That Made Asian America. Welcome back to you, too, Jeff.

Always great to be here.

Yes.

I'm very excited for this conversation with you both.

So in Bate, Riz Ahmed, plays Shah, an actor who's currently in the middle of a career downturn.

Now, he lands in an audition to be the next James Bond, but when this leaks to the public, the social

media reactions to the possibility of a Brown 007 are just about as normal as you would expect,

which is to say they're unhinged. And one particularly disturbing response shakes Shah's confidence

and sends his personal life into a tailspin. The cast includes Gus Khan as Zulfi, Shah's brother-cous and right-hand man,

Shiba Chata as Tyra, Shah's supportive mother, and Patrick Stewart as himself slash a pig's head.

...