Saoirse Ronan is 'dead serious' about playing Bond villain

Saoirse Ronan is "dead serious" about her desire to play a James Bond villain.

The Oscar-nominated Irish actress insisted she's been "dead serious" about wanting to play a Bond villain every time she's brought it up in interviews.

"I want to go dark," she told Empire magazine. "I said that I wanted to be a Bond villain and I'm dead serious."

Explaining why, she continued, "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."

The Lady Bird actress previously told Vanity Fair in 2024 that she loves playing someone "a little bit evil" and thinks it would be "really fun" to do so on a bigger scale.

"That is what I do like about something like Bond in general, is that the characters are very interesting," she said at the time. "And I do think there's something kind of cool about having a female villain who wants to take him down and doesn't just want to fall in love with him."

Coincidentally, Ronan's husband, Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden, is currently one of the favourites to be the next Bond, after TV personality Richard Osman claimed Lowden was "being strongly considered" for the role.

Other potential Daniel Craig replacements include Callum Turner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jacob Elordi and Louis Partridge.

According to Bond producer Amy Pascal, the latest Bond will most likely be unveiled by the end of the year. Dune's Denis Villeneuve will direct the next film.

Ronan is currently promoting her upcoming movie Bad Apples, which opens on 18 September.