Yahoo Movies Should Pierce Brosnan return as James Bond in the Amazon era?
Could there be appetite for a septuagenarian 007? Well, Pierce Brosnan has been talking about the prospect of returning to the role of James Bond.
When it comes to James Bond, all bets are off now. Amazon's take on the material could do quite literally anything, so several eyebrows were raised — in a way that would have made Roger Moore proud — at some recent comments made by former Bond leading man Pierce Brosnan.
Brosnan is the man who rejuvenated Bond in the 1990s and gave the franchise its mojo back after the declining popularity of the Timothy Dalton years. He played 007 in four movies between 1995 and 2002, giving us one of the best ever Bond adventures in GoldenEye and one of the worst in Die Another Day.
More than 20 years after he hung up his Walther PPK and tuxedo, Brosnan said in a new interview with GQ that he would be interested in a potential return as an older incarnation of Ian Fleming's spy. "Of course, how could I not be interested?" he said.
Brosnan, though, immediately equivocated on that idea. He added: "It's a delicate situation now. I think it's best to let sleeping dogs lie, really. I think so. It's a rather romantic notion and idea, but I think everything changes, everything falls apart. I think that it's best left to another man, really. Fresh blood."
So, while Brosnan wouldn't say no if he got a call from Jeff Bezos and a visit from his trucks full of cash, he's not exactly cheerleading a major campaign to push himself to the top of the list of future Bond actors. He doesn't seem to want to become for Bond what David Tennant is for Doctor Who — as fun and popular as Tennant is in that role.
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That's how Brosnan feels, but let's have a think about whether it could actually work. Well, there's no doubting Brosnan's credentials. He might be 71 years old, but he's still in great physical shape and would be more than believable as an ageing take on the spy. If Liam Neeson can still kick all sorts of rear end into his eighth decade, Brosnan can too.
The actor might also feel he has a degree of unfinished business. While most Bond leading men can't wait to say goodbye to the all-consuming role — Daniel Craig being an infamous example — Brosnan had to be dragged away kicking and screaming in the mid-2000s.
"I was utterly shocked and just kicked to the kerb with the way it went down," said Brosnan in the book Some Kind of Hero, revealing that Barbara Broccoli was crying on the phone call. Just a year before Craig was officially announced as his replacement, Brosnan told the BBC: "They [the Bond producers] know where to find me if they want me for the next one." In yet another parallel with Tennant and the TARDIS, it seems Brosnan's feeling was something like "I don't want to go".
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Brosnan's popularity with fans never declined through his tenure, despite the variable quality of the movies in which he appeared. If he were to return, it would likely be a popular move — especially given the freedom potentially provided by the Amazon deal.
Amazon could certainly bring Brosnan back as part of a spin-off series or a one-off movie, separate to whoever is the main star leading the franchise forward. Presumably, they'll want that to be someone who isn't old enough to get a free bus pass. But fans would love a stand-alone Brosnan adventure as Bond, or even a cameo appearance to pass the torch to the new 007.
The idea of a retired Bond is a fascinating one. Mark Millar and Matteo Scalera essentially did it in comic book form with the 2022 series King of Spies. That series' grizzled old spy Sir Roland King — who finds out he only has six months to live and decides to pursue justice while he can — even resembles Brosnan, so the work could serve as inspiration for a tale focused on an older Bond in his twilight years. A gritty spin on an old Bond could do for the character what Logan did for Wolverine.
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Brosnan seems keen to have another go at saying goodbye to Bond and, let's face it, he still looks great in a fancy tuxedo. So with Amazon facing the daunting task of picking up the Bond franchise after the fatal finale of No Time to Die, could the secret sauce be a look to the past?
