Amazon Prime’s James Bond thriller is completely absurd in the best way

After relentless speculation over who the next James Bond will be, Riz Ahmed’s Amazon Prime thriller Bait is the pitch-perfect response.

There’s no denying that 007 is one of Britain’s most well-renowned IPs, with the action-thriller movie franchise spanning 64 years and counting. Since Daniel Craig handed in his licence to kill, Amazon Prime Video has taken over to herald the secret service agent into his new era.

Helmed by Dune filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, the who’s who of young British male actors have been dubbed ‘the next Bond’ at one point or another, from Aaron Taylor-Johnson to Callum Turner.

Enter Oscar-winning star Riz, cool as a cucumber, effortlessly proving he has the onscreen charisma to pull this beloved character off in a comedy-drama poking fun at the whole situation.

It’s deliciously ironic and disturbingly meta.

In his new six-episode show, Bait, Riz plays fictional British Pakistani Muslim actor Shah Latif, who has the opportunity of a lifetime – auditioning for the man of the hour, James Bond (surprise, surprise).

After he’s pictured leaving the audition, he’s soon splashed across social media and the press, going from unknown actor to nationwide fame overnight.

It’s a bold gamble from the streaming service to call out Bond’s large and vocal fanbase with such an on-the-nose take, but it’s one that was worth making.

From here, Shah is faced with an ever-pressing dilemma over what he holds most dear: his family, culture and values or bagging the gig of a lifetime and transforming his career for good.

This show does a magnificent job of portraying the diaspora experience, from the community politics of who will host Eid dinner to the constant background screeching of the Pakistani news channel Geo whenever the TV is on to the diabetic Asian dad sneaking sweet treats.

Refreshingly so, Bait dedicates a chunky portion of its six-episode run to fleshing out Shah’s dynamic with his family and community (an existential crisis that racks the vast majority of second and third-generation immigrants).

We meet ‘cousin-brother’ Zulfi (Guz Khan), his ride-or-die, who’s running a community-specific rip-off Uber company; Sheeba Chadha as Tahira (also Riz’s mother in Hamlet), who embodies the overly-concerned, slightly nosy Asian aunty to a T.

Not to mention, ‘cousin-sister’ Q (Aasyia Shah), who brings her sarcastic A-game, and Sajid Hasan as Shah’s jovial dad Parvez.

As Shah’s life starts to spin out of control, we tackle the identity politics at the heart of this plot.

There’s the classic ‘should a [insert ethnic minority here] play an iconic white character’ discourse, and just how far Shah is willing to veer away from his moral compass to score this role.

Here’s where the show tilts in a direction I wasn’t expecting, and Riz leans full throttle into the surreal and absurd. Where you expect him to go left, he turns right, and the plot unravels faster and faster alongside Shah’s descent into madness.

For the most part, it works, with one character choice so bizarre that you simply can’t look away out of morbid fascination.

However, at times it did feel as though the show lost its way and forgot the original point of the storyline, before eventually getting back on track.

In the final couple of episodes, I found myself asking: ‘How on earth did we get here?’ more than once, and even having to rewind to understand the rapidly moving storyline.

Aside from a handful of hurdles, however, the unpredictability only made the viewing experience more fun.

It’s definitely the type of show that needs to be seen to be believed.

Bait arrives on Amazon Prime Video on March 25, 2026.

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