Pierce Brosnan's Final James Bond Performance Wasn't What You Think

Had all gone according to plan, Roger Moore would've passed his Walther PPK to Pierce Brosnan after the former wheezed his way through "A View to a Kill" at the age of 58. EON Productions had chosen the "Remington Steele" star as the next 007, and anyone who'd watched the NBC series knew Brosnan was born to play Ian Fleming's MI6 agent. Unfortunately, NBC realized they had the option to a fifth season of a show starring the next James Bond, and exercised it in the bizarre belief that viewers would return to the fading series in droves to watch a glum Brosnan not play James Bond. This worked out well for precisely no one.

While I'd love to live in the timeline where Timothy Dalton's no-nonsense 007 — the closest in look and temperament to Fleming's book version of Bond — stuck around for longer than two movies, the sad truth is that moviegoers rejected 1989's "License to Kill" (it grossed $1 million less at the U.S. box office than "Fletch Lives," which killed the Chevy Chase franchise). Factor in legal complications caused by MGM/UA's sale to Pathé Entertainment, and EON Productions was ultimately forced to move on from Dalton (who also had qualms about committing long-term to 007). Fortunately for EON, Brosnan was still quite ready to play Bond, which brings us to "GoldenEye" in 1995.

As we all know, Brosnan helped revitalize the Bond franchise heading into the 21st century, and, even though the movies weren't great, he left the series in a good spot commercially when he completed his run with 2002's dismal "Die Another Day." What you might not know is that Brosnan made one last appearance as 007 before Daniel Craig stepped into the role in 2006's "Casino Royale." How is this possible?

If you're not a gamer, you've probably never heard of the Electronic Arts video game "James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing." Released in 2004, two years after "Die Another Day" hit theaters, the third-person action-adventure game centers on 007's efforts to foil a former KGB agent's attempts to incite a nuclear conflict that will bring Europe to its knees. Brosnan wasn't the only Bond-series regular to return to the fold for this game; Judi Dench, John Cleese, and Richard Kiel (his final credited use of likeness as the henchman Jaws) also came along for the ride. The game also boasted appearances from Shannon Elizabeth, Heidi Klum, and, as the game's big baddie, Willem Dafoe.

Released to the Sony PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the Nintendo GameCube, "James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing" currently holds a very respectable 84 out of 100 at review aggregator Metacritic. It wasn't anywhere near as influential as "GoldenEye 007" for the Nintendo 64, but most who played it would agree that it was far more satisfying than most of Brosnan's Bond movies. And unless Amazon MGM Studios, which now controls the creative future of Bond, can convince Brosnan to step back into the role for some kind of 007 legacy-quel (and given as much money as they seem willing to spend on the franchise, I would not count that out), this will remain the star's final portrayal of the character.