Saoirse Ronan Says She’s “Dead Serious” About Campaign To Play A James Bond Villain: “I Want To Go Dark”

Amazon MGM Studios, alongside producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman, are said to be deep into the casting process for “Bond 26,” but Irish actress Saoirse Ronan is already campaigning to play a James Bond villain and is “dead serious” about those ambitions.

“I want to go dark,” Ronan told Empire Magazine in a recent chat to promote her new film “Bad Apples,” and doubled down on her desire to get involved with the beloved spy franchise. “I said that I wanted to be a Bond villain and I’m dead serious…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.”

READ MORE: Idris Elba Advises ‘Bond 26’ Not To Mess With “Culture” By Modernizing James Bond With Black Actor: “Let’s Not Try & Make It Woke”

Ronan wouldn’t be without action experience, as she played a deadly, trained youngster in the Joe Wright film “Hanna” and has showcased her ability to kick ass and take names, so it wouldn’t really be out of place to see her taking on a project like Bond.

This wouldn’t be the first time a female villain has been mused in recent years, one early version of “Skyfall” was once said to be courting Rachel Weisz (who would coincidentally later end up marrying Daniel Craig) to play the main villain before the film drastically changed in an extended development peroid and Javier Bardem was ultimately selected to play a grudge-focused former MI6 agent from the Hong Kong division, who was burned by M. French actress Sophie Marceu‘s Elektra King from “The World Is Not Enough” was a main antagonist during the Pierce Brosnan tenture.

Interestingly enough, Ronan is married to “Slow Horses” actor Jack Lowden, who many could see as a strong candidate to be in the mix to play the next James Bond (anything is possible at this early stage). While newcomer Thomas Francis is the first actor confirmed to have auditioned to play the next iteration of 007 for director Denis Villeneuve (with a script from Steven Knight), other names being tossed around include Jacob Elordi (“The Dog Stars”), Callum Turner (“Neuromancer”), and Cosmo Jarvis (“Shogun,” “Warfare”), who have been teased by outlets in the past as possible contenders.

While we don’t know what the new angle for “Bond 26” will be, there have been calls from fans of the new video game “007: First Light” to consider focusing on a young rookie version of James Bond, which could help distance these new films from the Craig era.

Support independent movie journalism to keep it alive. Sign up for The Playlist Newsletter. All the content you want and, oh, right, it’s free.

Paramount‘s Republic Pictures is behind the release of “Bad Apples,” which heads to theaters in the UK and the United States on September 18.