Rowan Atkinson Finds Playing Mr. Bean To Be 'Stressful And Exhausting'

It’s been a rough week for beans.

First, there was the still-ongoing Bean Dad saga, which began with a father mocking his daughter for not knowing how to use a can opener and ended with resurfaced racist and homophobic tweets (tell your off-line friends that “Bean Dad got Milkshake Duck’d,” and see how they respond). And now, Rowan Atkinson wants Mr. Bean to die.

OK, the British comedian didn’t use those words exactly, but the sentiment stands. “I don’t much enjoy playing him,” he told the Radio Times. “The weight of responsibility is not pleasant. I find it stressful and exhausting, and I look forward to the end of it.” Atkinson created Mr. Bean, a bumbling buffoon who responds to the various scraps he finds himself in with mumbles and cartoonish facial tics, in the 1980s — since then, there’s been TV shows, movies, and this “Yaaas Bean” shirt that I’m buying immediately.

Atkinson isn’t ready to bury Mr. Bean yet, however.

Atkinson’s lack of enjoyment does not preclude an animated film. “Having made an animated TV series, we’re now in the foothills of developing an animated movie for Mr. Bean — it’s easier for me to perform the character vocally than visually,” Atkinson said.

The movie will have Mr. Bean trying to kill himself, only to end up the king of England somehow. Besides, Atkinson can’t kill his most popular character (sorry, Johnny English and the “it’s a race” guy from Rat Race). Bean is immortal, assuming he doesn’t get canceled.