7) Dominic West
Fun fact: Dominic West could have been Bond a decade ago, if he hadn’t pulled out of the running for Casino Royale when he heard the rumor that Brosnan was returning.
It’s easy to see why producers were pursuing West: he’s cool and confident like Ian Fleming wrote Bond to be, but there’s also a roughness to West that would have suited the new, diamond-in-the-rough take on Bond that producers were going for with Casino Royale onwards.
Now in his mid-40s (and actually younger than Daniel Craig), there’s still time for West to take on Bond and bring that certain stiff-upper-lipped British humor with him. God knows Daniel Craig is many things, but he isn’t particularly funny – even in The Wire, dark as it was, West managed to bring a brevity to proceedings that would suit a new Bond.
Plus, the guy’s got a killer plummy accent.