Pierce Brosnan says 'Oppenheimer' star Cillian Murphy would be 'magnificent' James Bond

Pierce Brosnan wants to pass the spy torch to "Oppenheimer" star Cillian Murphy.

The former James Bond told the BBC this week that the fellow Irish actor would make a great 007.

"Cillian would do a magnificent job as James Bond on His Majesty's Secret Service," Brosnan, 70, said.

Murphy, 47, told the outlet he had not heard the rumors about being considered for the role. The actor is up for the Academy Award for best actor on Sunday for his role as the titular father of the atomic bomb in Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer."

Brosnan starred as the beloved British Secret Service agent from 1995 to 2002. The role was then taken up by Daniel Craig, who has had the longest tenure as the spy, from 2006 to 2021, ending with "No Time to Die."

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Other stars that have been pitched to be the next Bond include Idris Elba, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, former Superman Henry Cavill, Tom Hardy and "No Time to Die" stars Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas.

Brosnan came under fire in 2015 for saying James Bond could be Black but "has to be male," a stance shared by James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli. But Brosnan seemed to change his mind a few years later.

"Anything is possible for sure, but I think he'll be male and he'll be white," he told Britain's Press Association about the future of the character in 2015. "There's wonderful Black actors out there who could be James Bond, and there's no reason why you cannot have a Black James Bond. But a female James Bond, no, I think it has to be male. James Bond is a guy; he's all male. His name is James, his name is James Bond."

In 2019, however, Brosnan told USA TODAY he was "ready for a woman" to take over the iconic role.

"I think it would be magnificent to see a woman play it," he said on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. "But I don’t think that's going to happen. Ian Fleming wrote it as a man, all those decades ago. I don't think the Broccolis will step into that direction."

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Contributing: Charles Trepany