Movies - TV
Sean Connery Bluntly Shot Down A Request To Return As James Bond
By DEMETRA NIKOLAKAKIS
As the first actor to play James Bond, Sean Connery set the bar for decades of iterations to come — but by the time Roger Moore finally took up the mantle, Connery was adamantly out. According to screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, longtime "Bond" producer Eon Productions was eager for Connery to appear in "Live and Let Die." The actor didn’t share their enthusiasm, though.
Connery’s response to Mankiewicz, who was asked to win the Bond star over, was simple: "I always hear that it's my obligation to play James Bond. I've done seven, when does my obligation stop? After ten, twelve, fifteen? You can't type this thing for your whole life, you can't do it." Connery’s refusal likely influenced how Eon would handle future Bond actor transitions.
While Connery didn't return to Eon's official James Bond franchise, he would eventually play the spy again in "Never Say Never Again," a 1983 Taliafilm remake of “Thunderball” whose unusual creation was the result of a legal battle. Unfortunately, since Eon did not produce this movie, it will not be joining the main Bond franchise coming to Prime Video in October 2022.