Pierce Brosnan Starred in This Overlooked Spy Miniseries 7 Years Before He Was James Bond

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Pierce Brosnan smiling and standing by a plant.

Thomas Butt is a senior writer. An avid film connoisseur, Thomas actively logs his film consumption on Letterboxd and vows to connect with many more cinephiles through the platform. He is immensely passionate about the work of Martin Scorsese, John Ford, and Albert Brooks. His work can be read on Collider and Taste of Cinema. He also writes for his own blog, The Empty Theater, on Substack. He is also a big fan of courtroom dramas and DVD commentary tracks. For Thomas, movie theaters are a second home. A native of Wakefield, MA, he is often found scrolling through the scheduled programming on Turner Classic Movies and making more room for his physical media collection. Thomas habitually increases his watchlist and jumps down a YouTube rabbit hole of archived interviews with directors and actors. He is inspired to write about film to uphold the medium's artistic value and to express his undying love for the art form. Thomas looks to cinema as an outlet to better understand the world, human emotions, and himself.

Although not a true native of Great Britain, Pierce Brosnan was born to play James Bond on the big screen. From the moment he first appeared in movies and television, the Irish actor seemed like he was hand-crafted by Albert Broccoli and Eon Productions as the perfect candidate to follow in the footsteps of Sean Connery and Roger Moore. The crime mystery series Remington Steele, in which he played a thief posing as a suave detective with the class and grace of 007, laid the blueprint for Brosnan's four-movie in the Bond world, starting from GoldenEye in 1995 and ending with Die Another Day in 2002.

One of Brosnan's earliest roles, following Remington Steele but before taking the reins as the world's most famous fictional spy, was the forgotten TV miniseries Noble House, which is now available to watch for free on Tubi. The four-episode series from 1988 is a product of its time, but its blend of action-adventure with the hallmarks of a corporate thriller makes it a fascinating watch and revelatory blueprint to Brosnan's gifted abilities as an actor.

Pierce Brosnan Was Always a Favorite To Play James Bond

With Roger Moore showing visible signs of wear and tear, everyone knew it was time for a new James Bond in the '80s, particularly a series more grounded and less farcical than Moore's escapades. As far back as the early '80s, Broccoli eyed Brosnan to inherit the role from Moore. "If he can act... he's my guy," Broccoli stated, which reflects the undeniable nature of Brosnan's visual appeal that completely matched the vibe of Bond. Because Remington Steele shared stylistic and thematic parallels to 007, audiences already envisioned him as Ian Fleming's hero. However, extended obligations to the TV series forced Brosnan to temporarily pass up this golden opportunity to Timothy Dalton.

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"Vodka martini, plenty of ice... if you can spare it."

During this period, when Brosnan eventually proved himself as a viable Hollywood star in Mrs. Doubtfire and Dante's Peak, he honed his chops as a leading man in Noble House, a miniseries based on James Clavell's novel, written by Eric Bercovici and directed by Gary Nelson. Airing on NBC, the series features Brosnan as business tycoon Ian Dunross, who takes control of a Hong Kong-based trading company, Straun & Company. As the Tai-Pan, a name given to a foreigner in control of business in China, he faces off against the cutthroat world of corporate dealings, notably with the firm's arch-rival, Quillian Gornt (John Rhys-Davies). Released in between Remington Steele and GoldenEye, Brosnan, a classic debonair in the lineage of Cary Grant, has the delicate balance between youthful beauty and seasoned gravitas, and his striking facial expression carries the business-heavy drama throughout the four episodes. Those eyes of his are, dare we say, piercing.

'Noble House' Captures the Excess and Bloat of the 1980s

Pierce Brosnan's Ian Dunross starring ahead in Noble House

Although the premise suggests that the action will mainly consist of business dealings and negotiations in offices, Noble House, which takes place within the span of a week, is tightly packed with kidnapping, murder, double-crossing, ominous mysteries, and natural disasters. The series indulges in the excess that dominated movies and TV shows from this decade, to the point that nothing ever surprises the viewer. Anytime you're ready to buy into the stakes of an important transaction or executive meeting, you're upended by a shocking new development that throws everything into a whirlwind.

This may cheapen the experience for some, but if you buy into the bloated camp aspect of this era, then Noble House becomes a fascinating exercise in maximalism. After all, the most memorable sequences, including the fire engulfing the restaurant, the heart-pounding horse race, and the harrowing landslide, are not only impressively crafted for a TV miniseries, but they also reflect the unchecked power and megalomania of '80s-era Wall Street yuppies often dramatized on the screen. The likes of Ian Dunross and Wall Street's Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) treated cash like ammunition to use people like chess pieces, and their devil-may-care approach to life would cause destruction to everyone around them.

A show set in Hong Kong, while primarily centering around white characters, makes Noble House feel inseparable from its era. It more or less uses the Hong Kong backdrop as a stylistic flourish, channeling the slick, neon-soaked aura of Miami Vice for the Eastern hemisphere. Company president Linc Bartlett (Ben Masters) and his wife, Casey (Debroah Raffin), who frequently cite the morals and ethics of Hong Kong business practices, appear to have integrated themselves into the region's culture. Noble House presents itself as a spokesperson for the values of Hong Kong, even if its pulpy themes and flimsy plot machinations suggest that they don't care so much about the integrity of the land.

Pierce Brosnan and John Rhys-Davies Thrive as Battling Business Executives in 'Noble House'

Pierce Brosnan's Ian holding a drink and sitting on a couch in Noble House

Being one of the most naturally charming actors of his generation, Pierce Brosnan is magnetic, even if the character provided less material than 007. However, the stand-out performance in Noble House comes from its antagonist, Gornt, played by the always wonderful John Rhys-Davies. Best known for playing Sallah and Gimli in the Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings franchises, respectively, Rhys-Davies seamlessly modulates from fun and affable to sinister across his filmography. He has a distinct energy on the screen, but he always surprises you with every line delivery and gesture, and this unknowability is utilized to its full potential in this miniseries. A constant schemer with a dark background of abuse and distrust, Gornt leaves Dunross on his toes and proves that he can't merely get by on his good looks and charm.

While it is broken up into four episodes, Noble House has the sprawling, connective tissue of an epic feature film, which throws off the pacing of your traditional TV programming. Its ambition often gets to the better of itself, and various subplots, including Gornt running his private bank and the search for a missing half of an ancient coin that Dunross gets tied up in, could've been excised. Still, because the series is fascinated with the power dynamics of business and interpersonal relationships, and how blind greed enhances the masculine urges of corporate suits, Noble House, a title which is a stark contradiction to what transpires in the show, needed to be grand to underscore its message. At the very least, the series teased audiences about what Pierce Brosnan would bring to the screen as James Bond, a billionaire moonlighting as a thief in The Thomas Crown Affair, and an ABBA-singing potential father of a bride in Mamma Mia!