Unlikely as it may seem, original James Bond Sean Connery was almost asked to come out of retirement and perform in 2012 ’s Skyfall — but not in the role of 007. The late screen legend Sean Connery was the first actor to take over the part of James Bond way back in 1962 ’s Dr. No, and the actor’s incarnation of 007 affected every other performer to play Bond since then.

However, Connery retired relatively early( for a Hollywood actor) after 2003 ’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen failed to resonate with publics. When the big-budget comic book adaptation flopped Connery never returned back to screen, but the actor was almost approached to take over a supporting role in the James Bond franchise. Had he accepted the part, Connery would have become the first Bond actor to reappear after his tenure in the capacity in the franchise’s long history.

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Connery was American Beauty director Sam Mendes’ first choice to play the role of Kincaid, the groundskeeper of the titular manor in 2012 ’s Skyfall. In what would have been a historical firstly for the dealership, Mendes missed Connery to play the elderly groundskeeper who helps Bond and M buttres the estate against Javier Bardem’s Raoul Silva during the movie’s Home Alone-style climax. However, since Connery didn’t come out of retirement for Spielberg during the making of the belated Indiana Jones sequel Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the Bond franchise builders decided against querying the prominent actor lest they be turned down.

The creators too cited the fact that Connery’s presence could have proved “distracting” for publics, which is a fair point when the substitution actor, The Bourne Ultimatum’s Albert Finney, proved perfect for the part but wasn’t intended to be a walking in-joke for devotees of the franchise. Connery’s choice to take over the capacity( if he had accepted it) have had an opportunity to was instrumental in fans being unable to take the closing behave of Skyfall earnestly, a problem that would have proven fatal for the film since the zany home invasion sequence suddenly turns dreadful when Silva successfully assassinates Dench’s M.

The decision to kill off M was already a right first for the film, and Skyfall may well have been biting off more than it could grind by adding Connery into the mix. After all, the actor’s fighting style in Diamonds Are Forever already influenced Craig’s fighting vogue in his Bond jaunts, and Connery’s legacy is encountered throughout the series even without him drooping in for a cameo. That said, with Connery and his permutation Roger Moore now deceased, Mendes’ decision not to reach out to the actor means that there is still no speciman of an age-old James Bond dropping in to check on his latest replacement. It’s something that starting serials ace Daniel Craig could be the first 007 to draw away if the franchise’s creators can ever decide on his replacement.

More: Why Sean Connery Still Defines Bond, 50 Times Afterward

Read more: screenrant.com