It’s hard to imagine anyone but Daniel Craig playing James Bond over the last 15 years, but it could have been oh-so different
The actor has starred in the last five 007 films, first appearing in Casino Royale in 2006 and ending his run with No Time To Die in 2021.
Before Daniel was announced as Pierce Brosnan’s replacement to play Bond, producers had a list of other contenders – and that included David Tennant, according to the former Doctor Who star.
Speaking to the Acting For Others podcast, the Scottish star said he recently discovered that Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson had at one point been considering him to play the fictional secret service agent.
“I never believed I had, until I worked with a director recently who had worked with the Broccolis, who said ‘Yeah, you were on the list that time’,” David revealed.
“I was like ‘What time? What are you talking about?’ He went ‘Yeah, the last time’. I suppose it must have been Daniel Craig; before that I would have been a child.”
The 51-year-old actor added: “I think it was quite a long list and I don’t think I was ever very near the top of it. But apparently so.”
Asked if he wonders what his life would have been like if he had got the role, David said: “I think it’s probably a bit of a game-changer, that level of celebrity.”
Following Daniel’s swan song performance as 007 in No Time To Die, there has been plenty of speculation about who will take over, with Rege-Jean Page, Henry Cavill and James Norton among the bookies’ contenders.
David was catapulted to widespread recognition when he stepped into the Tardis in 2005 to play the 10th Time Lord, with his final Doctor Who episode airing on New Year’s Day in 2010.
He said he did experience a loss of anonymity after joining the sci-fi series, saying: “It was a different scale to anything I’d done before in terms of just the general public being aware of you.
“You can sort of be known in the industry and there’s a whole thing where you’re suddenly in people’s living rooms and they have a kind of ownership of you, in a way.
“And it’s a multifaceted experience, and lots of it is very nice, but there are parts of it where you just can’t really anticipate what that feels like, I think.”
David will be returning to the show alongside Catherine Tate – who played his companion, Donna Noble – in scenes due to air next year to coincide with the series’ 60th anniversary celebrations.