Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan believes the next actor to take on the iconic role could turn out to be someone entirely unexpected, rather than one of the widely reported contenders currently in the running.
Speaking to The Times in an interview published on Friday, Brosnan said there were plenty of good candidates being discussed and that he followed the speculation closely, adding that the studio could just as easily go left-field and pick someone nobody currently expects. The 73-year-old actor, who played 007 across four films between 1995 and 2002, including ‘GoldenEye’, ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, ‘The World Is Not Enough’ and ‘Die Another Day’, declined to name anyone he personally favoured for the role, joking that his wife had told him not to say too much and that he had already said more than he should have.
Brosnan said he now saw himself simply as a member of the audience awaiting the next Bond and wishing him well, adding that he has no desire to revisit his own Bond films since they came out.
The casting search comes as Amazon MGM Studios develops its reboot of the long-running franchise, with ‘Dune’ director Denis Villeneuve on board to helm the project and ‘Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight attached to write the screenplay. Names that have circulated in reports include Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner, Jack Lowden and Harris Dickinson, though Amazon MGM Studios has kept development details closely guarded since taking creative control of the franchise in its deal with the Broccoli family. The last Bond film, Daniel Craig’s ‘No Time to Die’, released in 2021.
