As we wait with bated breath to find out just who will play James Bond in the as-yet-untilted, but still upcoming Bond 26, let’s take a look at who has played the iconic superspy on screen over the past nearly 70 years, including the most recent, Daniel Craig. There have been 25 official EON films and a handful of non-canonical movies and shows starring 007 over the years, and there may even be a couple of names on this list of the eight actors who have played him. We’ll go from the oldest to the most recent (and speculate a little on who might be next).
Barry Nelson
- Year(s) Active: 1954
- Number Of Films: 1
James Bond actually began his journey to the big screen on the small screen in a live TV adaptation for the hit anthology show Climax! on CBS in 1954. Adapting the first book in the series, Casino Royale, TV writers Charles Bennett and Anthony Ellis made a rather interesting change to the source material for Barry Nelson to star as 007–Bond is American. Felix Leiter, who is canonically an American working for the CIA, is a British spy here, played by Australian Michael Pate, and has a different first name, Clarence.
In this Climax! version of Casino Royale, Bond works for the fictional Combined Intelligence Agency, not MI6. The plot is similar to the Craig-Era film, though entirely contained within the casino. Instead of poker, Bond plays the villain Le Chiffre (played by the great Peter Lorre) in a game of Baccarat. It’s a fascinating look into the very early days of Bond on screen.
Sean Connery
- Year(s) Active: 1962 – 1967, 1971, 1983
- Number Of Films: 7
James Bond hit the big time on the silver screen with 1962's Dr. No. Of course, that Bond actor needs no introduction. Sean Connery is still the person that everyone thinks of when you say the words, “Bond, James Bond.” While Bond author Ian Fleming initially doubted the casting, the success of Dr. No not only won Fleming over, but it also led him to write the character closer to the actor's own background in subsequent novels. The Connery-Era Bond films are still some of the most beloved of the whole franchise.
Connery playing Bond over the years wasn't completely uncomplicated, however. Starting with Dr. No, Connery starred as 007 in all five of the original films, including From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice, wrapping up his run in 1967. Or so we thought. Connery returned after a one-film hiatus to star as Bond one more time in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever. He left the franchise again. Or so we thought (again).
More than a decade later, Connery would once again star as Bond, this time in the non-Eon produced Never Say Never Again in 1983. I'm not going to get into the complicated history of that movie, which is a second adaptation of Thunderball, but it really would be the final time Connery would play the superspy.
David Niven
David Niven
- Year(s) Active: 1967
- Number Of Films: 1
1967's Casino Royale, starring Hollywood legend David Niven, is a satirical take on the then-burgeoning franchise. Like Never Say Never Again, this is not part of the official Eon Pictures canon, and it's often overlooked completely, even by hardcore fans of the franchise (I've only ever seen it once, and that was years ago).
Playing on Niven's age at the time, as he was in his mid-50s, Bond is coaxed out of retirement and...well...silliness ensues. That includes multiple agents named James Bond, and while co-stars like Peter Sellers and Woody Allen technically had the Bond name as covers, David Niven was the only real James Bond.
The film remains an oddity for Bond fans to discuss, and there may be debate by some as to how canonical this portrayal is, but that, like the movie, is just silly.
George Lazenby
- Year(s) Active: 1969
- Number Of Films: 1
After 1967's You Only Live Twice, Sean Connery left the role (briefly) and his stylish void was filled by Australian model and first-time actor, George Lazenby in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The film is notable not only for being the first time an Eon film featured a new actor playing Bond, but it's also the first time Bond would marry the Bond Girl in the film, Tracy (Diane Riggs).
While he was considering returning for The Man With The Golden Gun, back when it was slated to be the next film in the franchise, Lazenby eventually vacated the role, triggering Connery's first return to the role. Apparently, the production of On Her Majesty's Secret Service was so disheartening for George Lazenby, as he felt the creative forces mistreated him, and he had grudges with two of his co-stars. Though after this slight bump in the road, the James Bond franchise would experience its most stable period yet.
Roger Moore
- Year(s) Active: 1973 - 1985
- Number Of Films: 7
Thanks to his work on a rather Bond-esque television adaptation of Leslie Charteris' The Saint, Roger Moore was eventually cast as the fifth actor to take on the role of 007. Starting in 1973's Live and Let Die, the actor would set a record for official installments played by a single actor, as he racked up seven films by the time A View To A Kill hit theaters in 1985. Though if you were to ever discuss his tenure with die-hard Bond fans, you'll hear some of the same criticisms come up over and over again.
Between the more joke-laden, silly tone that the Moore films have and the fact that Roger Moore might have been wise to retire while he could still do most of his stunt work, you'll get some people labeling him as the worst James Bond of the lot. For me, that's blasphemy, but Moore is also the James Bond I first saw, when I rented For Your Eyes Only, so I'm admittedly biased. The era also produced the best theme songs, by far.
I would also argue that his third film, The Spy Who Loved Me, released in 1977, following The Man With The Golden Gun in 1974, is one of the top two or three Bond movies ever produced. I'll concede that things got way too silly with 1979's Moonraker, and by the time Octopussy came out in 1983, it was clear to most that Moore was past his prime as the superspy, though he would play Bond one more time in the aforementioned A View To A Kill.
Interestingly, Live and Let Die was not actually the first time Moore played the character, technically. In a comedy skit on the BBC show Mainly Millicent in 1964, Moore played a satirized version of the character.
Timothy Dalton
- Year(s) Active: 1987 - 1989
- Number Of Films: 2
Though Timothy Dalton only starred in two Bond pictures, 1987's The Living Daylights and 1989's License To Kill, history has been kind to the brief era. Initially, people weren't sure about this new, more serious version of James Bond. It was certainly less jokey than the Moore era, and Dalton played the character with less debonaire charm than Connery. However, over the years, fans have embraced the two movies as much better than they were originally received.
The lukewarm reaction at the time and several behind-the-scenes complications meant that Dalton never got a third bite at the 007 apple, and though he was considered for the role as far back as On Her Majesty's Secret Service in the late '60s, Dalton only got to play the role those two times. It's a shame, too, because I really like his version.
Pierce Brosnan
- Year(s) Active: 1995 - 2002
- Number Of Films: 4
After Dalton's departure from the franchise, it would be six long years for another installment, this time with Pierce Brosnan in the lead role. The era really ushered in a new, slick look for the Bond series. While they were always big-budget blockbusters, 1995's Goldeneye was on a whole new level. Brosnan was slick and charming, a return to an early portrayal, but the budgets were even bigger, the special effects more impressive, and the co-stars, especially the Bond Girls, were more famous.
With one foot in the wittier side of the pool that Roger Moore's films occupied, and the other in Sean Connery's era of a killer edge, Brosnan's tenure in the role was a mixed, but exciting bag. Starting with the very serious Goldeneye, but finishing with the very silly Die Another Day, the Pierce Brosnan era also brought another pleasant surprise: his first female boss. Through four films together, Brosnan and Dame Judi Dench (as M) gave the flagging series a more contemporary update.
Daniel Craig
- Year(s) Active: 2006 - 2021
- Number Of Films: 5
2006's Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig for the first time as 00,7 marked a soft reboot of the series and the biggest tonal shift since Dalton's short turn in the role. The movie even starts with a little bit of an origin story (something we may see again), when Craig's Bond earns his double-0 status in the pre-credits scene.
The Craig era of Bond films has its ups and downs through five films, starting with the great Casino Royale and including another one of the best, 2012's Skyfall. Of course, there is also arguably the worst movie in the franchise, Quantum of Solace, from 2008, plus a couple of middling entries with 2015's Spectre and his final film, No Time To Die, in 2021.
Craig is maybe the most "serious" Bond, though he does fall in love in Quantum of Solace, which softens him at first. Then, after the love of his life is killed, he becomes the cold-blooded assassin that many argue is more akin to Fleming's original idea for the character. Though Roger Moore played Bond in more movies, Craig's tenure lasted the longest amount of time, 15 years.
The Next James Bond Actor
The only two things we know for certain about the next James Bond movie are that it will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, who was announced in June 2025, and it is being written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. Beyond that, there has been a ton of speculation about who will take over for Daniel Craig as 007.
The cold, hard truth is that we have no idea who will be next. Names like Tom Holland, Oscar nominee Jacob Elordi, Harris Dickinson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Callum Turner, and Regé-Jean Page have all been rumored at one point or another. We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, you can fire up your Netflix subscription and watch all the previous Eon-produced James Bond films.
