Pierce Brosnan Endorses Cillian Murphy As Potential Future James Bond: “Cillian Would Do A Magnificent Job”

As James Bond fans continue buzzing about who may take on the role next, Cillian Murphy has been granted a stamp of approval from a former 007 himself, Pierce Brosnan.

“Cillian would do a magnificent job as James Bond on His Majesty’s Secret Service,” Brosnan shared with the BBC at Thursday night’s (March 7) Oscar Wilde awards.

Brosnan is one of a select seven actors who have taken on the highly coveted role. Previous Bonds include Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig.

Brosnan portrayed Bond in the following four films prior to being succeeded by Craig, per People: GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999), and Die Another Day (2002).

Murphy — who is among a slew of stars that fans and publications have theorized to be feasible contenders for the role — told the press on the red carpet on Thursday night, “I think I’m a bit old for that,” per People.

Producer Barbara Broccoli claimed in 2022 that it would be “at least two years” until the 26th James Bond film would begin shooting, per Deadline. At the time, she told the outlet that “nobody’s in the running,” and that they were still “working out where to go with him,” referring to Bond.

Meanwhile, Succession star Brian Cox, who became the host of Prime Video‘s 007: Road To A Million, was under the impression that the reality show inspired by the famous figure “was the new James Bond film.”

“Oh, finally, they’re getting me in a James Bond movie, and I thought, yes, of course,” he recalled on The Tonight Show last November. “For years, I thought, you know, I would love to be in James Bond. It would be really interesting. And I thought, ‘This is my moment,’ but it wasn’t.”