10 A-List Actors Who Passed on James Bond—and the Films Became Blockbusters
They said no to 007 — and the roles went stratospheric. Meet 10 A-listers who passed on Bond parts that turned into box-office gold.
James Bond looks inevitable in hindsight — tux, martini, the whole myth baked in. But 007 could have looked very different. Over the years, a bunch of big names circled the role, flirted with it, or flat-out walked away. Some were too busy, some weren’t interested in a long franchise haul, and a few just didn’t see themselves as the guy. Here’s the alternate Bond timeline that never happened — and how we got the one we did.
Richard Burton
Before Bond was a box-office machine, Ian Fleming himself kicked the tires on Richard Burton for an early screen take on his first novel, Casino Royale. Burton, already a commanding screen presence from films like The Robe, Look Back in Anger, and later Cleopatra, wasn’t convinced. When the part came back around after Sean Connery ’s first exit, talks fizzled again thanks to mismatched expectations. Connery ultimately cemented the onscreen template with Dr. No in 1962, and that was that.
Dominic West
Post-Pierce Brosnan, around 2005, Dominic West’s name floated through the early mix while EON was shaping the Casino Royale reboot. He’s said he showed up to a casual meeting in jeans and a T-shirt and, honestly, wasn’t that into the gig. At the time he saw Bond as creatively stale — which the Daniel Craig era promptly disproved. West instead carved out his defining TV run as Jimmy McNulty on The Wire.
Michael Gambon
In the late-60s/early-70s scramble after Connery’s initial departure — the stretch that led to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) and then Diamonds Are Forever (1971) — Michael Gambon’s name was in the informal chat. He later said (with his usual dry self-own) that he never seriously chased it and didn’t see himself as the physical type for Bond. He ended up becoming another kind of pop-culture icon as Albus Dumbledore, starting with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004.
Clint Eastwood’s stance, years later: Bond belongs to a Brit — and to be honest, the character already felt like Connery’s.
Timothy Dalton
One of the stranger paths: Dalton could have been Bond as early as the OHMSS days, but at 23 he felt too young and passed. He re-entered the conversation in the early 80s as Roger Moore’s run was winding down, and this time the timing clicked. Dalton took over with The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989), delivering a flintier, Fleming-leaning take. In between the almost and the eventual, he did serious dramatic work (Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, 1970), and later chewed the scenery delightfully as the villain in The Rocketeer (1991).
Liam Neeson
Before GoldenEye (1995) locked in Pierce Brosnan, producer Albert R. Broccoli informally sounded out Liam Neeson after his Oscar- nominated turn in Schindler’s List (1993). Neeson said no, citing both reluctance to sign onto a long-haul franchise and the fact that his partner, Natasha Richardson, wasn’t thrilled with the idea. He steered into a different lane: Jedi mentor in The Phantom Menace (1999), then a late-career action pivot with Taken (2008) that basically invented a new Neeson subgenre.
Hugh Jackman
Early 2000s: the door was open before Daniel Craig, and Bond producers were hunting a younger, more physical lead after Die Another Day (2002). Hugh Jackman already had global heat from X-Men (2000), but he turned it down. In a 2015 Variety chat, he said juggling Wolverine and another mega-franchise sounded like a trap — too many years locked up. Craig got Casino Royale (2006). Jackman diversified: Oscar-nominated in Les Misérables (2012) and a great duel of obsessions in The Prestige (2006) opposite Christian Bale.
Lord Lucan
Yes, that Lord Lucan. Before his 1974 disappearance — after the murder of his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, and a violent attack on his estranged wife, who survived and identified him — Lucan had actually caught Albert R. Broccoli’s eye. The producer liked the notion of a real aristocrat as Bond, and Lucan was invited to be considered for a screen test. He declined. (He had tried a screen test in the 60s, briefly.) After the 1974 crime, Lucan fled, was seen at a friend’s place in Sussex, and then vanished. Rumors have swirled for decades — escape, suicide — but nothing definitive ever emerged. He was declared dead in 1999.
Cary Grant
Maybe the most tantalizing near-miss. In the early 60s, as Dr. No was gearing up, the team approached Cary Grant — the suave, unflappable center of North by Northwest (1959) — to kick off Bond on film. The catch: Grant only wanted to do a single movie, and he was easing into retirement. The franchise plan needed more than that. Connery took the part, Dr. No (1962) hit, and the rest is franchise history. Still, it’s hard not to imagine Grant gliding through a one-off 007, given how Hitchcock basically dress-rehearsed it with him.
Christian Bale
After American Psycho (2000), Barbara Broccoli considered Christian Bale for Bond. He passed, wary of a long-term contract and reportedly put off by certain outdated aspects baked into Bond’s image. Bale then redefined the modern superhero with the Batman trilogy, won an Oscar for The Fighter (2010), and kept racking up prestige with turns like Vice (2018). Craig, again, got the keys in Casino Royale (2006) and reframed the character on his own terms.
Clint Eastwood
Following Connery’s first exit — think post–You Only Live Twice (1967) and again around the Diamonds Are Forever (1971) handoff — Eastwood’s name came up through industry connections (his lawyer also repped the Broccolis). He declined. In a 2010 Los Angeles Times interview, he made two points: Bond felt like Connery’s role, and it should be played by a British actor. Also, creatively, it just wasn’t his lane. Eastwood kept defining his own brand of screen myth with Dirty Harry (1971), then shifted into Oscar-winning director mode with Million Dollar Baby (2004) and strong late-career acting turns like Gran Torino (2008).
What all these almost-007s tell you
Bond survives every fork in the road because the role absorbs the era — and the actor — without losing the pulse of the character. Burton’s gravitas, Grant’s elegance, Bale’s intensity, Jackman’s physicality, Neeson’s gravely cool — each would have bent the franchise in a different direction. Instead, we got Connery’s blueprint, Moore’s swagger, Dalton’s steel, Brosnan’s polish, and Craig’s bruised soul. Different instruments, same melody.
Which actor would you have liked to see try the tux for a film or two? Drop your pick in the comments.