In 2020, Daniel Craig will reprise the eponymous role in the Bond franchise for his 6th and final time. It will be the 25th Bond film, and the 52-year-old is the 7th actor to play the world’s most famous (and therefore worst) spy. Daniel is English, like 007 himself, but the role hasn’t always been played by an Englishman. Sean Connery played Bond seven times and he is Scottish. Pierce Brosnan played Bond in four whole films and he is an American. But the thing that got us thinking was that George Lazenby played Bond in 1969 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and he’s an Aussie.
As we all know, New Zealanders are kind of like Australians but suaver, with sexier accents (the world has voted. Get over it, Australia.) So if an Australian played Bond once, a New Zealander could do it better.
To help out, we’ve put together a short list of Kiwis who could play Bond. Better than an Aussie. And not all of them are even actors.
Read on to see who we’ve picked.
Sam Neill
His Irish accent was so great in Peaky Blinders that we’d actually like him to play Bond but with an Irish accent. But wear the same Kiwi-man-who-lives-in-the-wops outfits that he wears in Hunt For The Wilderpeople.
Sam Hayes
Such style. Such grace. Such poise. She climbs mountains, she glides to victory in dance competitions and now, we say she should play Bond.
John Campbell
Don’t give him a script, don’t give him breakfast, just let him wander around with his mic on and do his thing.
Rhys Darby
Read this in his voice: Oi, hey! You can’t have a list of Kiwi James Bonds and leave me off?!
Taika Waititi
.jpg)
Looks good in a suit and can inject the role with that subtle, blunt irreverent humour in a way Bond actors have been known for except Taika would do it better and with a Kiwi accent which would throw the baddies off and he would win because the baddies would be so shocked.
He looks good in a suit, but also, wouldn’t it be cool if Bond put aside the suit for once? Wouldn’t it be cool if he were to, say, rock a cool Hawaiian shirt?
KJ Apa
.jpg)
The Auckland born fake-ginger has been playing comic book-based character Archie on Riverdale, and they are always forgetting to give the poor boy a shirt to wear! He is always shirtless! Someone give this man some clothes!
Maybe if he played Bond, he could get paid and buy himself a shirt.
He went to Kings. He can do posh.
Anika Moa
She’s had the baby now but a pregnant James Bond would have been magnificent.
At the heart of it, James Bond is a symbol of straight white masculinity and he never has a musical number. Anika Moa can sing, she is Maori, she is a woman and she is a lesbian! She’d be the perfect breath of fresh air for the stuffy old man of a franchise and she is funny.
Julian Dennison
He is only 16 so maybe this Bond will have to take his martini shaken not stirred “and actually, hold the booze, I’ll just have a glass of olives?”
Michael Galvin
Picture the Bond intro with the silhouette. Suave. Stylish. Guns and evening wear. But the Shortland Street theme is playing.
Sam Neill
-scaled.jpg)
His Irish accent was so great in Peaky Blinders that we’d actually like him to play Bond but with that cool Irish accent. And can he also please wear the same Kiwi-bloke-who-lives-in-the-wops outfits that he wore in Hunt For The Wilderpeople?
Samantha Hayes
Such style. Such grace. Such poise. She climbs mountains, she glides to victory in dance competitions and now, we say she should play Bond.
John Campbell
Don’t give him a script, don’t give him breakfast, just let him wander around with his mic on and do his thing.
Also has anyone ever seen John Campbell not in a suit? We have a feeling he gets home at night, takes off his suit and underneath it is another suit. Therefore, he is well ready to play James Bond.
Hayley Holt
She may be a Breakfast host now but lets not forget that Hayley Holt has been quite the action woman in her time – she’s been a professional snowboarder, competitive ballroom dancer and has even won two corporate boxing bouts. No joke here. She’d really be a good action movie star.
Rhys Darby
Read this in his voice: Oi, hey! You can’t have a list of Kiwi James Bonds and leave me off?!
Karl Urban
He has actually been considered to play Bond so I apparently have to include him even though Anika Moa would clearly be by far the better choice? Sorry, Karl.
