Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan said he expects Amazon MGM Studios to bypass the widely reported shortlist of names and hand the iconic role to someone largely unfamiliar to audiences, weighing in on a casting search that has stretched on for years.
“There are lots of good hats in the ring. Lots of great actors. I see it. I follow it,” Brosnan told The Times in an interview published Friday. He suggested producers might sidestep the buzziest contenders entirely, predicting they could “go left-field and pick someone that none of us know about.”
Brosnan, who played 007 in four films between 1995 and 2002, declined to name a preference when pressed, joking that he had already said more than his wife advised. He described himself now as simply a spectator awaiting the next actor to take on the role. The 73-year-old also said he has not revisited his own Bond films since their release, adding that he has no desire to watch himself play the character again.
The comments arrive as speculation intensifies around Amazon MGM’s reboot, which will be directed by Denis Villeneuve from a script by Steven Knight. Names circulating in recent months include Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Harris Dickinson and Jack Lowden, though the studio has kept its process tightly controlled since taking creative control of the franchise from the Broccoli family. Casting director Nina Gold, whose credits include “The Crown,” “Conclave” and several “Star Wars” films, has been tapped to lead the search.
Brosnan’s instinct echoes recent comments from Debbie McWilliams, the casting director behind the selections of Timothy Dalton, Brosnan himself, and Daniel Craig. McWilliams argued this summer that Bond needs to remain “a total enigma” to audiences and said she was wary of casting any of the currently rumored names precisely because they are already so well known. The last Bond film, Craig’s “No Time to Die,” was released in 2021, and the character has been without a screen successor since.
