Tom Hardy would make a great James Bond, said Pierce Brosnan, who has played the fictional British spy in four films. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday’s Event magazine, Brosnan said that he “would be happy” to see Hardy play the role that he inhabited between 1995 and 2002. “You need an actor who can put a bit of wiggle into it - that’s what makes Bond,” he added.

Hardy has been a part of several film franchises. He appeared in Christopher Nolan’s third and final Batman film The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and George Miller’s Mad Max reboot Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Hardy will also appear in Venom, the first film in Sony’s Marvel Universe, which is an adjunct to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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Daniel Craig, who played Bond after Brosnan, is set to feature in his fifth and final film as the character. Directed by Danny Boyle, the as-yet-untitled action thriller will be released on November 8, 2019. Brosnan said that Craig has been an “incredible” Bond. “He’s very physical, he looks lethal,” Brosnan said. “You genuinely believe this is someone who could kill a man.”

Created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, Bond featured in 12 novels and two short story collections. The character was first adapted for film in 1962 with Terence Young’s Dr. No, featuring Sean Connery as Bond. George Lazenby, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton have played Bond before Brosnan.