The likes of Sam Neill and Henry Cavill were once in the running for the license to k***, just like Callum Turner, Josh O’Connor, and Jack Lowden are right now. These bigwigs were once screen-tested at Pinewood Studios - home to the legendary 007 Stage - for the coveted role of James Bond. Funnily enough, the studio has seen more actors try and fail than James Bond has had Vodka Martinis in the franchise. 

However, a few of them happen to be the future stars who went on to find their own way to success after getting rejected for the iconic role of the British spy.  

In 1982, the rumors were hot that Roger Moore was not too keen on returning after For Your Eyes Only. So, the studio obviously went shopping for a new Bond in anticipation of the worst-case scenario. Luckily, they ran into a serious prospect - James Brolin, only 42 years old then - best known for The Amityville Horror. But the unusual thing with Brolin was that he was American, and for the role, he developed an accent that got close to English.

But even after his efforts with the accent and an impressive screen test, he could not bag the role as Moore agreed to come back to the franchise. However, a glimpse of his Bond rendition still lives on the internet in the form of his test footage, where he did the seduction scene from From Russia with Love. It was a moment Bond producers had long utilized to evaluate potential 007s, along with a specifically constructed fight to test Brolin's physical prowess. 

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However, Roger Moore did retire in 1986 and left a large void to be filled, and for that, a young Kiwi actor emerged.

The 38-year-old New Zealander got a chance of a lifetime to show his chops as the potential 007. At a time when his repertoire had only Reilly, Ace of Spies and Omen III as crown jewels, he took a shot at the legendary role for the new Bond movie The Living Daylights. Sam Neill took on the exact same romantic seduction scene from From Russia with Love that James Brolin had tested for four years prior.

While director John Glen reportedly leaned toward casting Neill, producer Cubby Broccoli remained unconvinced, ultimately leading the production team to award the iconic 007 role to Timothy Dalton instead. But things worked out great for Neill as he got Jurassic Park seven years later.

Interestingly, a similar case is with the next actor who had his dreams of playing Bond shattered first, and then slipped into an equally iconic role a few years later.   

Before he was handed the cape, Henry Cavill was actually staring down the Bond tuxedo in 2005 - around the time when the studio decided to move on from Pierce Brosnan. They were actually looking for a younger actor despite the initial plan to return with Brosnan for a fifth movie after 2002’s Die Another Day. Whatever happened, there was an opportunity for Henry Cavill to flirt with the iconic tuxedo for Casino Royale. 

To replace Brosnan, he was given his most famous scene from GoldenEye - the flirtatious, double-entendre-laden introduction to Xenia Onatopp at the casino. Ironically, Cavill, 22 at the time, was too young to play Bond then, according to director Martin Campbell, who commended his stellar audition at the same time.

It cannot be said that the next actor had the exact same fate - from no Bond to superhero - but it is kind of along similar lines.

Long before finding global notoriety as the deeply unhinged superhero Homelander in The Boys, a 29-year-old Antony Starr - then largely invisible to US viewers - took his shot at the coveted British spy franchise. During his Casino Royale tryout, the relative newcomer enacted the exact same GoldenEye casino sequence as Henry Cavill. 

However, his rendition came with a major twist: he delivered his lines in his authentic New Zealand accent. Hearing a 007 prospect speak with a distinct Kiwi brogue proved to be an unconventional auditory experience for the casting team, though Starr would ultimately pivot from the Tuxedo to a terrifying blue-and-red cape years later.  

The long list of famous names who once vied for Daniel Craig’s future job definitely did not stop with Starr.

Back when he was just a 23-year-old British newcomer with a single cinematic credit under his belt, starring alongside Johnny Depp in The Libertine, Rupert Friend tossed his hat into the fiercely competitive ring for MI6's premier secret agent. For his screen evaluation, he tackled the exact same GoldenEye casino excerpt used by both Henry Cavill and Antony Starr.

The 007 gig ultimately slipped through his fingers, but missing out on the tuxedo hardly derailed his trajectory. He quickly bounced back to secure a role in Pride & Prejudice and eventually transitioned into espionage from a different angle entirely, portraying a CIA operative on the hit series Homeland.

Talking about the last entry on the list, this actor actually went on to lead one of the most iconic film franchises in the history of cinema after the 007 upset. 

It is really hard to think of him outside Pandora and instead of his Na’vi avatar, Sam Worthington trotting the globe in a tuxedo. But that never came to pass, as he did not get the part when he auditioned for Casino Royale, enacting the same material from GoldenEye as the other contenders.

While he later confessed that mastering the rugged, physical demands of 007 came naturally to him, nailing the required upper-crust British sophistication - particularly the precise vocal cadence - proved to be a formidable hurdle. 

Looking at these examples, it seems like everything works even if one loses on the most legendary and suave franchises of all time, but it is hardly the case. These are just the names that went on to become famous anyway, but there are a plethora of actors who did not amount to much after they got their James Bond dream broken. 

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Who among these would you have rather seen succeed in their efforts to play Bond? Do let us know in the comments.