Pierce Brosnan reveals his favourite pick for James Bond

Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan has thrown his weight behind an actor for the role (Picture: Getty/Rex)

Pierce Brosnan has given an indication as to who his pick for the next James Bond is, calling the actor ‘wonderful’.

The 72-year-old star, who held 007’s licence to kill from 1995’s GoldenEye to 2002’s Die Another Day – making four films in total as the suave spy – was initially reluctant to say.

‘I have no picks. I shall leave it open to the powers that be,’ he initially began, adding: ‘It’s a very exciting moment in the history of James Bond. Now that Barbara [Broccoli] and Michael [G Wilson] have relinquished the reins of it.’

However, when The Hollywood Reporter asked how his MobLand co-star Tom Hardy could do in the role, Brosnan laughingly changed his tune.

‘Oh! Tom would be wonderful,’ he agreed.

‘There’s so many great actors out there who could portray this character. I have no idea who, I have no idea. I wish whoever it is great success.’

While the 007 actor is careful not to pick favourites, he couldn’t help but back his co-star Tom Hardy as a contender (Picture: Getty)

The Bond franchise is now under the full creative control of Amazon MGM Studios, after the Broccoli family, its long-term producers through parent studio Eon, ceded that power earlier this year.

Amazon had previously acquired the rights to the franchise through Eon, founded in 1961, when it bought MGM in 2022 for $8.45billion (£6.24bn).

But Broccoli and Wilson retained final say on key production issues such as casting until February, when it’s thought Amazon paid over $1billion (£739.3million) to buy those rights from them.

Venom star Hardy, 47, has long been a favourite candidate for the coveted role of Bond in fans’ eyes.

The pair star together in Paramount Plus gangster series MobLand (Picture: Getty)

As well as routinely featuring in betting companies’ odds, he sparked a wave of support once more last summer, when Venom: The Last Dance’s trailer showed him suited up in black tie, adjusting his cuff as he walked – a very Craig-era Bond thing to do.

‘Tom Hardy in a tux is just teasing us for his supposed James Bond gig… man what an actor,’ tweeted fan Sandra on X at the time, while Ally Keyoni was more insistent in her choice, writing: ‘CAST TOM HARDY AS JAMES BOND RN.’

Brosnan has been cautious of saying too much in this era of change for his beloved character, but he did previously suggest that he could be interested in returning to the role himself as a ‘romantic notion’.

However, he added to GQ that he felt it ‘was best left to another man, really. Fresh blood’.

Brosnan, now 72, played Bond for four films from 1995 to 2002 (Picture: Keith Hamshere/Getty Images) Hardy, 47, has always had a lot of support for the role – and while previous producers were looking for someone in their 30s, it could be different with Amazon in control (Picture: EPA-EFE/Rex/Shutterstock)

In MobLand, Hardy plays Harry De Souza, a fixer for Harrigan crime family, led by Conrad (Brosnan) and Maeve (Dame Helen Mirren).

The series is co-directed and executive produced by Guy Ritchie.

Despite being Irish himself, Brosnan has faced criticism over his accent in the show, which has been branded ‘offensive’ by some.

Having his say on the backlash, the Drogheda-native previously told Radio Times: ‘My own accent is very soft, Conrad’s accent is a million miles away from me.’

Shedding light on his inspiration for the accent, Pierce explained that it was taken from someone suggested by his dialect coach.

‘I told him that I needed a Kerry accent, so he gave me the name of a man and I googled the guy and that was it,’ he added.

Irish actor Brosnan, famously a non-English pick for 007, recently came under fire for his Irish accent in MobLand (Picture: Paramount Plus)

‘It was a Kerry accent and so, I just gave it full tilt.’

Brosnan will next be seen in Netflix’s eagerly anticipated adaptation of Richard Osman’s novel The Thursday Murder Club, again opposite Dame Helen, as well as Sir Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie.

The quartet star as retirees who spend their free time solving cold cases for the pure fun of it, but things take a murderous turn when they are thrown into a real crime on their doorstep.

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