Brian Cox thought he'd been cast in a James Bond movie

007: Road To A Million on Prime Video sees Brian Cox mastermind a James Bond themed reality show.
Brian Cox fronts the Bond themed reality series. (Image credit: Prime Video)

007: Road to a Million host Brian Cox confessed he originally mixed up the reality series with a new Bond movie, thinking he may have landed a dream role in the action series.

In the Prime Video series, Brian Cox takes on hosting duties as the role of  "The Controller", a mysterious meddlesome figure who has millions of pounds to give away, but it's no easy task.

But with a gripping title like that, it's easy to mistake it for a new Bond villain, and Brian admitted the mix-up in a new interview, where he thought he'd "finally" been cast in the long-running spy series.

Speaking on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the Succession star said: “I thought it was the new James Bond film. So I said, ‘Oh, finally they’re getting me in a James Bond movie.’ I thought, ‘Yes, of course!’

"For years, I thought, you know I would love to be in James Bond. It would be really interesting. And I thought this was my moment, but it wasn’t."

Despite missing out on the chance to star in a James Bond movie, Brian spoke fondly about his time on the Prime Video series and said: "I got to see how ordinary people would cope with being on a James Bond adventure." 

"As they travel the world to some of the most iconic Bond locations, it gets more intense and nail-biting. I enjoyed my role as both villain and tormentor, with a license to put the hopeful participants through the mangle."

Brian Cox as Logan Roy in Succession season 3

Brian Cox played the formidable patriarch Logan Roy in HBO's Succession.  (Image credit: HBO)

007’s Road To A Million follows two-person teams as they navigate their way across iconic Bond movie locations such as the Scottish Highlands, Venice, and Jamaica, answering hidden questions as they go in order to progress to the next challenge, hoping they'll be the ones to win big.

Speaking to What to Watch, he teased his role and said: "Now I can finally say I’ve been in a Bond production. I always thought I’d be a very good Bond villain, but nobody’s ever come up with the offer, so at least by taking part in this, I’m doing it somehow. Having played one of the most misunderstood men in television history, it was a no-brainer to be a Bond villain of sorts."

007: Road to a Million arrives on Prime Video on Friday, November 10.

Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.

She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress