Rowan Atkinson says live action Mr Bean return "not an impossibility"
Rowan Atkinson has said that it's unlikely he'll ever make a live-action return as Mr Bean but "it's not an impossibility".
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, to promote the return of the Mr Bean animated series on the ITVX platform and children's channel Boomerang tomorrow, Atkinson admitted that he "occasionally" thinks about reprising his most internationally recognised role.
Musing "is it worth it? Is there any need?", he concluded that it "probably won't happen, almost certainly won't happen but it's not an impossibility".
Thirty-five years since the live action Mr Bean first appeared on ITV, in a mere 14 episodes, two films and compilation episodes, the series has nevertheless been broadcast in 245 territories worldwide, while clips from the series and its animated spin-off have been viewed more than 23 billion times on YouTube.
Atkinson attributed that success to Bean being "a child trapped in a man's body and that's always fun to watch.
"He has, in theory, the life of an adult but he's got the irresponsibility of a child and it's fun to see those things play out. And also, a relatively analogue life. That's something we've been struggling with in the last two [animated] series, how much to bring him into the modern world?
"[He doesn't have] a smartphone ... you'll be pleased to know. I think people like the sort of slight retro feel of Mr Bean. He's a character and a person who's stuck a bit in the past.
"He speaks a lot more than he does. In the early series of the cartoons we were fairly uncompromising, he's a non-verbal character. But actually, in the last two series in particular, he's been talking a lot more. And I think to the betterment of the character, in many ways he's slightly more accessible."
Atkinson will next be seen on screen in Netflix's physical comedy Man Vs Baby, a follow-up to his 2022 series for the streamer Man Vs Bee.