When people talk about the all-time greatest James Bond actors, not enough folks mention Pierce Brosnan, who played the famous superspy in four classic movies: GoldenEye (81% on Rotten Tomatoes), Tomorrow Never Dies (58%), The World Is Not Enough (51%), and Die Another Day (55%). The passage of time has been kind to these films, leaving fans to wonder whether Brosnan departed the role of 007 a little too soon. Realistically, it’s unlikely that the Irish actor would ever return to the part, though he provided a hopeful response when asked about it.
“I don’t think anyone wants to see a craggy, 72-year-old Bond, but if [Denis] Villeneuve had something up his sleeve I would look at it in a heartbeat,” Brosnan told the Radio Times in 2025. “Why not? It’s great entertainment. It could be lots of laughs. Bald caps, prosthetics… who knows?”
The funny part is that Brosnan could have played Bond more than four times. In fact, Casino Royale had been originally written with him in mind, but there was a snag in the negotiations for his new contract, so the producers decided to part ways with him and hire Daniel Craig instead.
“I sat in Richard Harris’s house in the Bahamas, and [producers] Barbara [Broccoli] and Michael [Wilson] were on the line,” Brosnan said in an interview for the book Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films. “‘We’re so sorry.’ She was crying, Michael was stoic and he said, ‘You were a great James Bond. Thank you very much,’ and I said, ‘Thank you very much. Goodbye.’ That was it. I was utterly shocked and just kicked to the kerb with the way it went down.”
The ship may have sailed for Brosnan’s Bond in his prime, but there is still an opportunity to do a one-shot movie of an older Bond. If the producers were serious about it, they could look at Mark Millar and Matteo Scalera’s King of Spies comic book series for inspiration. Even though that comic is already in development at Netflix as a live-action movie, the story showcases a clever way to tackle 007 like Old Man Logan. King of Spies follows the retired spy Sir Roland King, who has only six months to live. Rather than go gently into the night, King chooses to settle old scores before his hourglass runs out.
Something similar to King of Spies could give Brosnan’s Bond the proper send-off he deserves and let the actor play 007 one last time. If that’s not possible, well, then cast Brosnan as Roland King in the King of Spies movie, because who could be a better candidate?
Brosnan is certainly not slowing down in his 70s. He’s absolutely killing it as the ruthless gangster Conrad Harrigan in MobLand, which is easily the best crime drama on TV in 2026, and he still demonstrates that action scenes are second nature to him. Taking this into consideration, it’s clear that he’s still got a lot left in the tank to give as the superspy. Brosnan is one of the best to have played Bond and deserved more than to have a money matter end his tenure in such an anticlimactic and unceremonious way.
MobLand streams on Paramount+ in the US. Brosnan’s Bond films move between streaming services.
