Pierce Brosnan reacts with surprise to fans casting him as the next M in the Bond 26 and perhaps beyond.

Brosnan himself recently addressed his possible return as 007, indicating that he wasn’t ruling it out entirely, but he evidently wasn’t aware of fans casting him not to play Bond again but to replace Ralph Fiennes as M, as he expressed in a new interview (via Telegraph):

“Really? That’s nuts. Oh for God’s sake, let’s see where the wind takes us. ... My wife tells me some of this stuff, about the buzz going on here and there, but she hadn’t told me that one.”

What This Means For The James Bond Franchise

Bond Actors Have Returned As New Characters Before

It hasn’t happened very often in Bond franchise history that an actor has exited the franchise, only to later return. Sean Connery famously left for one movie before coming back for his Bond swan song in Diamonds Are Forever, but no other 007 has ever served two non-consecutive turns as the lead character.

There have been two notable cases of Bond franchise actors playing one-off characters in one movie, and returning later as a completely different character. Charles Gray made his Bond debut in 1967’s You Only Live Twice, playing Bond’s Henderson, then returned to play Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever. Iconic Bond girl Maud Adams also turned that particular trick, playing Andrea in The Man With the Golden Gun, and later coming back to play the title character in 1983’s Octopussy.

Adams made a third, very brief Bond franchise appearance, acting as an extra in a crowd scene in A View to a Kill

What’s unprecedented is someone playing Bond himself, then returning to play someone other than 007. Brosnan recently indicated in an interview with GQ that he might be game to Connery in the non-consecutive-Bond club, saying “How could I not be interested?” His new remarks don’t close the door on him playing M, but do seem to indicate that Brosnan finds the idea unlikely, if not completely wild.

Our Take On Brosnan Playing M In The Bond Franchise

It Would Be A Fun Way To Bring Him Back

Oscar-winning actors like Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes have been attracted to M, a role that requires a certain gravitas to carry off. Brosnan is not in the same class as Dench or Fiennes, having never been nominated for an Oscar, but he does have the chops to play M, with perhaps more of a debonair touch.

While Brosnan’s interpretation of M would be fun and interesting to witness, it would also be very strange seeing a former 007 step into the role. The move would also open up lots of canon-related questions for those who need those loops closed. Would Brosnan’s M be an older version of his 007, now kicked upstairs, or would he be a totally different character? If he is an older 007, does that confirm that the James Bond moniker is itself a code name?

Amazon MGM Studios and their newly-appointed Bond overseers Amy Pascal and David Heyman have a lot of decisions to make, including picking a new James Bond actor. Bringing back Brosnan as M might be a fun way of nodding to the franchise’s past, but could also be unnecessarily distracting and might even be too jokey, depending on the tone the new producers are going for.

Bond 26 is still a long way from arriving, at any rate, and there will be many exciting casting reports and plenty of juicy rumors, some perhaps involving Brosnan, in the weeks and months to come.

Source: Telegraph