Riz Ahmed on the Messy Vulnerability of His Bond-Baiting New Show

The son of Pakistani immigrants, Ahmed, 43, was raised in Wembley and educated at the elite Merchant Taylors’ School in northwest London, and graduated from Oxford; he is an actor and a rapper, both under his own name and with his group the Swet Shop Boys, and he’s still dedicated to both disciplines. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a drummer losing his hearing in the 2019 film Sound of Metal, but he’s also made meals out of otherwise thin blockbusters, like as an entertaining Elon Musk–type villain in the ridiculous 2018 superhero film Venom.

His new project, Bait, embraces contradiction. The six-part comedy-drama, written by and starring Ahmed, focuses on Shah Latif, a struggling actor who, after being seen leaving an audition for the role of James Bond, becomes the subject of an intense media storm. It’s a spiky, disorienting satire of the entertainment industry that also explores family, mental health, and Shah’s desire to succeed without alienating his community. The series, made for Amazon Prime Video, is a perfect project for Ahmed, who has traversed a number of worlds throughout his career without ever having to pick just one.

Bait isn’t autofiction by any means, but Ahmed says it speaks to the push and pull any artist feels between authenticity and success. “[Shah] is going through a process of trying to step into the archetype [of James Bond] and put on the mask, and has to actually go on the journey of trying to take it off, embrace himself, his vulnerability—it’s that journey of self-love, really,” he says. “But in order for me to make it, it’s also me having to take off the mask, me having to expose myself in messy vulnerability. Part of me is like, ‘I want everyone to see this.’ Part of me is like, ‘Does everyone have to see this?’”

The premise of Bait is itself kind of bait, given that fretting over the next James Bond is something of a pastime. But the show is not really about James Bond, nor is it totally about the inane conversation over the past few years about whether a non-white man can, or should, take on the role. “The Bond element brings in a spy thriller aspect to the show—it allows drama and action and suspense to live alongside the comedy,” says Ahmed. “It was also drawn from some of my own experiences when they were conversations. I mean, everyone and their dog has been mentioned in relation to this role; I was at one point as well. So it was drawing on some of that.”

He pauses for a moment and stretches out, revealing a black Zildjian drum T-shirt, a memento from Sound of Metal, underneath his brown cardigan. “But that was, like, a ‘Who do I wanna be?’ moment, right?” he continues. “Do I want to fit into the allure of that mainstream establishment iconography, or do I want to do Swet Shop Boys?”