Rowan Atkinson is ready to shuffle off Mr. Bean’s mortal coil. In a recent interview with U.K. outlet Radio Times, via Variety, the beloved British star admitted that his beloved character—a comedic, childlike buffoon whose popularity has spawned a sitcom, movies, an animated series, and books—has become something of a thorn in his side.
“I don’t much enjoy playing him,” Atkinson said. “The weight of responsibility is not pleasant. I find it stressful and exhausting, and I look forward to the end of it.”
Count your days, Mr. Bean! You’ve raised your brow and moled your mole for the last time. Atkinson originally created the character when he was a student at Oxford and now, at 65 years old, he’s grown weary of it. Wouldn’t we all? College is for trying on personalities and then letting them go gently into that good night. Of course, most of our collegiate flights of fancy don’t become beloved by fans all over the world—but that is Atkinson’s bean-shaped cross to bear.
That said: Yes, he is currently working on a Mr. Bean animated movie, because “it’s easier for me to perform the character vocally than visually,” he told the Radio Times. The people demand Beans, and it is animated Beans they shall receive.
The actor’s candor in the interview also extended to such topics as working (“I don’t actually like the process of making anything,” he said, a deeply inspiring revelation) and cancel culture (not as inspiring, unfortunately).
“The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,” he said. “It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be ‘canceled.’”
“It’s important that we’re exposed to a wide spectrum of opinion, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn,” he continued. “So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.”
Atkinson’s cancel-culture remarks went viral on Twitter, not least because humanity just witnessed the very public cancellation of Bean Dad. It’s just too many beans for one news cycle to handle. A third and even more powerful Bean Story must emerge to solidify the first official trend of 2021.
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