‘This is my way of getting back at them’: The first-ever spin-off from one of cinema’s most iconic franchises is being fronted out of spite

For the longest time, the stewards of the James Bond franchise have been adamant that the lucrative and legendary property will never be diluted, watered down, or bastardized by either feature-length or episodic spin-offs, but that was always in with a chance of changing once Amazon took over.

Following the company’s acquisition of MGM, Jeff Bezos’ company now control the rights to 007, and while we shouldn’t be expecting the iconic secret agent to suddenly be given the full-blown cinematic universe treatment, it’s not a coincidence that the arrival of the first trailer for 007: Road to a Million marks the first-ever project hailing from the brand that isn’t part of mainline movie, video game, or literary canon.

What makes it even more fascinating is that Brian Cox has been chosen to host the competition in the role of The Controller, after the Succession veteran admitted in a recent interview with GQ that one of his main motivations for signing on was to get back at Bond for continually overlooking him when it came to playing one of the title hero’s signature scenery-chewing villains.

“I’ve been ignored over the years as far as James Bond is concerned. One of the kind of cockeyed reasons I did it was I thought, well: really? If you were ever looking for somebody to play a Bond villain [it would be me]… so this is sort of my way of getting back at them.”

The eight-episode series premieres on Nov. 10 and “follows nine pairs of everyday people as they are unleashed on an epic global adventure through a series of Bond-inspired challenges for a shot at each winning a life-changing £1,000,000 ($1.2 million) prize,” so at least Cox is getting his shot in one way or another.