Although the argument over who was the best actor to fill the role of James Bond is one of those debates that will never generate a definitive answer, Pierce Brosnan’s time as cinema’s secret agent is remembered fondly by many fans of the franchise. His tenure got off to a great start with Goldeneye, which is still cited as one of the best Bond movies ever, but his other three outings failed to recapture that magic.
His final effort in Die Another Day came dangerously close to self-parody on more than one occasion and suffered from mixed reviews, but still managed to become the highest-grossing entry in the franchise at the time. However, the critical reaction led to a drastic rethink of how Eon would approach their marquee series, leading directly to the more grounded realism of Daniel Craig’s debut in Casino Royale.
The recently-delayed No Time to Die will mark Craig’s swansong as Bond, before the circus starts all over again as the studio launches the hunt to find his successor to inherit one of the most coveted roles in the business. In a recent interview though, Brosnan reflected upon his time as 007, and also surprisingly revealed that he would be game to return to the franchise, but only if he got to play the bad guy.
“Would I return as a villain? If asked, yes! I believe so.”
While many installments of the James Bond series have featured some self-aware humor, the idea of a former star playing a villain seems a little too meta, even for a franchise that has given us some pretty ridiculous things over the years. Then again, whoever takes over could end up taking 007 in a completely different direction, but the idea of a Brosnan return seems pretty remote nonetheless.