‘The Beatles’ Biopic Star Saoirse Ronan Is ‘Dead Serious’ About Wanting to Play a Villain in the Next James Bond Film

Casting campaigns rarely stay this consistent over multiple years, but few actors have been as openly persistent about a single dream role as Saoirse Ronan has been about James Bond. What started as a playful aside on a podcast has evolved into something closer to a genuine, sustained pitch aimed directly at the franchise’s decision-makers.

Ronan has spent the past two years quietly building her case for joining the rebooted Bond franchise, not as the next 007, but as the film’s central antagonist. That campaign has resurfaced again in a new interview with Empire Magazine, where the Oscar-nominated actress made clear her interest in the role hasn’t cooled off in the slightest.

Ronan told the outlet she remains “dead serious” about wanting to play a Bond villain, elaborating on exactly what draws her to the idea of stepping into that kind of role for the first time in her career. “I think it would be really interesting, having a young female villain. Especially for girls and women, to see someone who can just take all that pent-up anger and direct it somewhere, there’s something interesting in that dramatically. So I would love to do more of that,” Ronan told Empire Magazine, framing the pitch around the character possibilities a young female antagonist could offer the franchise.

Ronan first floated the idea publicly back in 2024, during an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. At the time, she admitted she was nervous about even bringing up the idea directly with longtime Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, whom she said she knows “a little bit,” while joking about potential villain quirks like giving her character a limp.

During that same conversation, Ronan drew a clear distinction between her interest in Bond versus Marvel, telling Horowitz she couldn’t quite see herself fitting into the Marvel Cinematic Universe despite having reportedly been considered for the role of Yelena Belova in “Black Widow,” a part that ultimately went to Florence Pugh. Bond, by contrast, represented exactly the kind of large-scale, villain-driven role she said she was actively chasing.

Her comments also touched on a lighter, more personal wrinkle to the whole campaign. When asked whether she’d choose playing the villain over her husband, actor Jack Lowden, potentially landing the role of Bond himself, Ronan didn’t hesitate, saying she’d step aside and let him take the lead role if it ever came down to that choice.

Ronan’s pitch also touches on a genuine gap in Bond’s decades-long history. While the franchise has featured memorable female antagonists over the years, including Xenia Onatopp in “GoldenEye” and Elektra King in “The World Is Not Enough,” none have carried the kind of central, primary villain role typically reserved for the franchise’s male antagonists.

That distinction is central to Ronan’s argument for the role, framing it not just as a personal ambition but as a meaningful creative opportunity for the franchise heading into its next era. Given ongoing uncertainty around who will ultimately be cast as the next Bond himself, with names like Jack Lowden reportedly among those under consideration according to industry insider Richard Osman, the timing of Ronan’s renewed public push feels far from coincidental.

Ronan’s filmography already demonstrates she has the range for morally complicated characters, having played everything from a manipulative teenager in “Atonement” to a trained assassin in “Hanna.” Those past performances lend real weight to her case, even as she acknowledges she hasn’t yet had the chance to fully explore a villain role on this kind of scale.

With Bond 26 still working through its own casting process and no official villain announcement yet made, Ronan’s continued public campaigning suggests she’s not planning to let the opportunity slip by quietly.

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