# If not Craig…who else could have been #notBond in CASINO ROYALE?
**URL:** https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658
**Category:** Films
**Created:** [November 26, 2025, 3:30am UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658 "2025-11-26T03:30:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@jamesb007nd](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/jamesb007nd)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2026, 4:58pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/42 "2026-01-20T16:58:13Z")
He is cool but he is better as villain.
I am not saying he is too old, because well… they are both of my age, actually I am the oldest, because my birthday is the first day of the year and ofcoure I am still very, very young and good looking, that’s withouth saying ofcourse!😉 🙄
PS: No, Rufus is the oldest, I just found out that he is from 29 october 1967.
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### Author:  [@Dustin](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/Dustin)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/43 "2026-01-20T17:28:42Z")
Back when Sewell did the Dibdin/Aurelio Zen adaptation they gave him a definite Bond vibe:
> **[Zen, or Rufus Sewell–the next James Bond?](https://borg.com/2011/11/05/zen-or-rufus-sewell-the-next-james-bond/?amp=1)**
>
> What? Didn’t they just announce that Daniel Craig just started filming Skyfall, the next James Bond flick? Sure, but if you haven’t been following along, we mentioned here yesterday t…
This pic is not from the Zen series - I think - but definitely looks like he could have been in SKYFALL. I think that would have made for a nice mixup of the role.
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### Author:  [@secretagentfan](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/secretagentfan)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2026, 5:47pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/44 "2026-01-20T17:47:05Z")
He always felt to me like a villain.
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### Author:  [@Dustin](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/Dustin)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/45 "2026-01-20T19:20:07Z")
He definitely looks like a tough customer. A bit like Craig used to.
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### Author:  [@jamesb007nd](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/jamesb007nd)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 8:41pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/46 "2026-01-22T20:41:07Z")
Ai! I didn’t realise that I was in the “If not… 2006” topic. Ofcourse now seems my comment about the age a little strange. Sorry about that.
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### Author:  [@Stbernard](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/Stbernard)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2026, 1:06am UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/47 "2026-01-23T01:06:55Z")
I remember a bit of crackle around Nathaniel Parker
However I’d have gone .
Jason Isaacs
Rufus Sewell
James Purefoy
At the time
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### Author:  [@Dustin](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/Dustin)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/48 "2026-02-11T17:00:25Z")
Good call on Purefoy. Interestingly he’s been for long years doing the costume history circuit of roles, maybe that’s why he wasn’t so often mentioned as a possible alternative. But there would have been potential…
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### Author:  [@raylan.givens](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/raylan.givens)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2026, 6:01pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/49 "2026-02-11T18:01:32Z")
The millennium Lewis Collins
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### Author:  [@Stbernard](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/Stbernard)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/50 "2026-02-11T18:03:26Z")
He’s unlucky in that he was cast as the Saint and the financing collapsed during filming. He was very upset as he is a Saint fanatic. We both have the same tattoo of the stick man. Something we discovered on a New Year’s Eve moons ago
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### Author:  [@Stbernard](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/Stbernard)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/51 "2026-02-11T18:05:03Z")
His Bond story equally unlucky in that it is obvious now that Craig was the only choice as far as BB was concerned
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### Author:  [@Dustin](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/Dustin)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/52 "2026-02-11T18:45:14Z")
I will say that I know the MO from many years of civil service politicking; for some posts you put up a number of candidates knowing full well you only want one to come through and the others are mainly ‘filler’ to help you better argue for your own case. Like most of my colleagues I know the strategy from both ends. Nobody is really hot about it, but I cannot say I blame BB if things indeed went this way. When you’re not actually in a position to make the call yourself you use every leverage legally available to shorten the odds. 🤷🏼♂️
However, if Purefoy was already one also-ran in the GOLDENEYE run-up and they returned to him after Brosnan I’m not sure he really had no chance to land the role. It was a decade later and he’s developed in a very interesting direction. I dare say they didn’t return to him just to have alternatives to present to MGM - especially since he would probably have been the easier to sell candidate.
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### Author:  [@secretagentfan](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/secretagentfan)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2026, 8:32pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/53 "2026-02-11T20:32:20Z")
Well, there can be only one.
To want Bond is great.
To expect it is hopeless.
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### Author:  [@Stbernard](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/Stbernard)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2026, 7:38am UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/54 "2026-02-12T07:38:46Z")
And the right one’ was cast imo
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### Author:  [@Irrigator](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/Irrigator)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 11:06am UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/56 "2026-10-04T11:06:43Z")
Adrian who?
Being a 90s kid I remember who he is, but apart from being a lead on a tv show, he didn’t make an impression at all. Brosnan however is pure charisma. Bond is supposed to be charismatic, so Bond actors tend to have interesting careers. They might not all become stars, but (apart from Lazenby - who ruined his own career) they all made huge impressions.
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### Author:  [@ViewFinder](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/u/ViewFinder)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/if-not-craig-who-else-could-have-been-notbond-in-casino-royale/3658/57 "2026-10-08T17:46:31Z")
I remember seeing JULIAN MCMAHON on Nip/Tuck & then as Doctor Doom in the Fantastic Four movies & him becoming my dream pick for quite a while. I still think he would have been superb but probably not what the character/franchise needed back then. Its almost like the franchise needed Daniel Craig & Casino Royale to prove itself & it paid off brilliantly.
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