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.
Back when Sewell did the Dibdin/Aurelio Zen adaptation they gave him a definite Bond vibe:
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.
He always felt to me like a villain.
He definitely looks like a tough customer. A bit like Craig used to.
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.
I remember a bit of crackle around Nathaniel Parker
However I’d have gone .
Jason Isaacs
Rufus Sewell
James Purefoy
At the time
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…
The millennium Lewis Collins
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
His Bond story equally unlucky in that it is obvious now that Craig was the only choice as far as BB was concerned
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.
Well, there can be only one.
To want Bond is great.
To expect it is hopeless.
And the right one’ was cast imo
