An Irish Bond: Eight homegrown heroes who could play the iconic secret agent 007

From Andrew Scott to Cillian Murphy, Barry Keoghan to Aidan Turner, Ireland has a wealth of talent who could take on the heroic lead, writes Chris Wasser

Do we have our next James Bond? It’s hard to tell. Some reports indicate Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the 33-year-old Englishman, best known for his roles in Nowhere Boy, Kick-Ass and Nocturnal Animals, has been offered a contract to replace Daniel Craig in a new series of Bond films. Others suggest the Taylor-Johnson story is a tad premature, and the actor remained tight-lipped about such matters in a recent interview with Rolling Stone UK.

What, exactly, is going on? We’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, it’s fun to speculate about who’s in the running and who’ll make the cut — and wouldn’t it be something if the next James Bond was Irish? It’s happened before and, given the level of talent pouring out of this country, it’ll probably happen again at some point. Take note: these are the awesome homegrown performers that could make for a smashing Bond…

Cillian Murphy

We’ll begin with an obvious choice. Recently crowned Best Actor at this year’s Oscars, the incomparable Cillian Murphy will almost certainly enjoy a well-deserved rest now that awards season is over. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer dominated the conversation from day one, and Murphy, the film’s superlative leading man, played a blinder on the campaign trail.

The Ballintemple legend has never been as popular as he is now, and hey, our boy looks good in a tux. That probably explains why the tabloids reported that Murphy (47) was part of the Bond casting discussion. Was he really? Maybe. Would Murphy have been a decent 007? Absolutely.

Like Daniel Craig before him, the esteemed Corkman could have made a proper character out of Bond — and former 007 Pierce Brosnan reckons Murphy would “do a magnificent job” in the secret agent’s shoes. Alas, the Oscar winner already ruled himself out of the gig. “I think I’m a bit old for that,” he told Deadline earlier this month, and you know what? He’s not wrong. In another life, perhaps.

Aidan Turner

For a while there, you couldn’t mention Aidan Turner’s name without someone telling you he’d be a fabulous Bond. It’s easy to imagine the handsome Dubliner as a Brosnan-esque super spy, knocking out baddies and knocking back martinis under the Cuban sun. The Turner magic is all in the eyes, and a cynical commentator might suggest the only reason the man best known for playing Captain Ross Poldark was part of the Bond conversation in the first place is because of his looks. An interesting point, but it’s a little unfair: Turner (40) can act and has never had the opportunity to front a proper big-screen event. A Bond outing could have changed all that. Pity it never happened.

Barry Keoghan

A Keoghan Bond would, at least, put an end to the ghastly Saltburn chatter. Emerald Fennell’s buzzy melodrama caused a bit of a stir last Christmas, and Keoghan (creepy, compelling and occasionally naked throughout) is tremendous in it. Alas, the film around him is a bit of a shambles.

Imagine, then, a world where people stop talking about Keoghan’s backside and start seeing him as a shadowy MI6 intelligence officer. Allowing a younger performer to inhabit the 007 role would allow the Bond team to take the character and, in turn, their audience, to places they’ve never been.

Cinematic origin tales are inherently tricky, but nobody has ever tried it with Bond, and it’s about time they did. Give us a James who’s just starting out, who makes mistakes, who’s good with his fists and bad with rules. Give us a performer who can make him mean, tough and a wee bit twisted. Keoghan’s Bond would rule, and you

know it.

Andrew Scott

Why not? He already played a slippery troublemaker in Sam Mendes’s Spectre, and he is perhaps one of the few performers in this business with the talent and, indeed, the tools to portray both a memorable Bond villain and the dashing central hero. Mr Scott, in case you hadn’t noticed, is currently in the form of his life.

Fresh from delivering a career-defining performance in Andrew Haigh’s mesmerising romantic fantasy, All of Us Strangers, Scott will next be seen in a warmly anticipated Netflix adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith classic, The Talented Mr Ripley. Like Cillian Murphy, Scott’s age (47) probably works against him. I know what you’re thinking: if he can portray a young

Tom Ripley on screen, then why not James Bond? We don’t make the rules, sadly.

Daryl McCormack

The Bafta-nominated Tipperary man turned heads in Sophie Hyde’s affable sex comedy, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, opposite Emma Thompson, and he is set to chase enormous tornadoes across America with Daisy Edgar-Jones in Lee Isaac Chung’s forthcoming Twister sequel.

Yes, Daryl McCormack is a busy man, but it was his performance in Alice Troughton’s tricksy 2023 feature, The Lesson, that piqued our interest. In Troughton’s film, he portrays an aspiring novelist who plays a dangerous game with his favourite author — hardly action-flick material, but McCormack conjures thrilling magic from a difficult setup, and you cannot take your eyes off him. You don’t want to, and that’s exactly the sort of on-screen magnetism required to play the world’s coolest secret agent.

Paul Mescal

Imagine. With Ridley Scott’s eagerly awaited Gladiator sequel due in November, Paul Mescal is set to go from Oscar-nominated indie favourite to blockbuster leading man. The pressure is on, but he’ll probably blow us away. He usually does, and if he ever gets the chance to play Bond, he’ll do a phenomenal job there, too.

Like Keoghan, a Mescal Bond could give producers the opportunity to explore the making of a legend. Bring him back to the start, back to a time before globe-trotting missions, maniacal super villains and soapy romantic endeavours. A good director — and that’s exactly what a decent Bond film requires — could entice Mr Mescal, if not now then a few years down the line. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.

Jamie Dornan

The County Down performer gets a hard time from his critics. Look past the occasional clanger( Fifty Shades…, Robin Hood, Wild Mountain Thyme) and you’ll find there are more hits on Jamie Dornan’s CV than there are misses. He is, in fact, an excellent actor, handy with action (The Siege of Jadotville, Anthropoid), brilliant with drama (Belfast, The Tourist) and a hoot with comedy (feast your eyes on Dornan’s underappreciated supporting turn in 2021’s Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar). He’d be a super Bond, or — and this is where he and Andrew Scott could form themselves a fun little club — a chilling Bond villain. Start the petition now.

Ruth Negga

Perhaps a time will come when Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson finally cast a woman in the lead. A female Bond would be awesome, but it would also attract a wave of silly controversy, the kind that Ms Broccoli and Mr Wilson might be keen to avoid. It’s a shame, as there are so many actresses who’d knock it

out of the park. On the Irish front, who better than the sublime Ruth Negga?

An accomplished performer, one of our best, Ms Negga doesn’t make many films, but when she does, she’s usually the best thing about them. See Passing, Good Grief and her Oscar-nominated performance in Jeff Nichols’s life-affirming 2016 drama, Loving. She’s also acted alongside a former Bond and, in 2022, Negga received a Tony Award nomination for her acclaimed turn as Lady Macbeth opposite Daniel Craig in a Broadway production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Negga’s Bond might never happen, but listen, it’s fun to dream.