BY ANNA CONRAD From GQ Magazine UK

There’s been a lot of noise around James Norton’s role in McMafia being an audition for Bond, but he’s nothing like him – and that’s a good thing

Throughout McMafia, even before McMafia started, a name was bandied around more times than an overzealous Alan Partridge impersonator. That guy, the one who likes to use his surname first, as though he’s constantly checking up on his dinner reservation, you know the one. The one with the specific drink requests. Yep, that one.

The BBC drama starring James Norton is a slow-building, crime saga – a bit Honourable Woman, with some Night Manager in there. The ethical lead character, Alex Godman, played by James Norton, is slowly seduced over to the dark side, because well, all the good stuff happens there. With trips to Tel Aviv, the south of France and the Cayman Islands, it seems being bad is just pragmatic these days. Imagine the air miles.

Over and over, we hear that this is Norton’s audition for Bond, except from what we’ve seen so far, it’s not, because Norton inMcMafia isn’t even really like Bond. If anything he’s a new breed: sensitive; more likely to be pouring over spreadsheets than thinking of quick-fire quips to all those men sat around in big chairs stroking cats all day.

In other words, he’s really nothing like Bond and it’s actually a good thing.

He’s morally aware, mindful, but not too hard on himself, like a person who boycotts Starbucks on Twitter, but gets that flat white on the way to work because everywhere else is too far away. He’s most probably vegan. He’s also a proper slashie, juggling multiple jobs: working the nine-to-five grind (something to do with numbers and a corporate office cubicle), secretly leading a double life dabbling in a bit of money-laundering, Krav Maga expert, collector of air miles. Pretty much, a millennial.

McMafia teases a few Bond moments. Like that time when James Norton is standing knowingly in the middle of an ocean, somewhere exotic (remember, collecting those air miles), in trunks that leave virtually nothing to the imagination, starring into the distance. Or that other time, when he’s dressed to the nines in a snug tux, walking into parties with similarly snuggly dressed attractive people.

But it’s all just a ruse. A bit of a flirt. Like a strong opener on Tinder. Milleni-Bond could never be actual Bond, for one he couldn’t afford the hi-tech gadgets – he’s going through a housing crisis. The good news is that it’s opening the door to a whole new breed of Bonds. Albeit ones who probably still live with their parents, while they build up their small consultancy firm, but who are potentially a little more varied and subtler. It was only a matter of time before a new Bond came along, a little more Gen Y, a bit more McMafia.

IMAGES: BBC/CUBA/NICK WALL

For more on this story go to: http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/mcmafia-james-norton-bond