Brian Cox Channels Bond Villainy in Competition Series ‘007: Road to a Million’ Teaser

Brian Cox is joining the James Bond franchise, in one way or another.

The “Succession” Emmy winner hosts Bond-inspired reality competition series “007: Road to a Million” for Prime Video.

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Nine contestants embark on a global adventure to participate in a series of challenges for a shot at winning win £1 million — or $1.3 million — each. Cox, aka “The Controller,” is the mastermind behind the challenges and picks where the paired contestants travel to for specific missions.

“I put real people into a James Bond adventure to win a million pounds,” Cox says in the teaser. “The only thing standing in their way is me!”

Contestants compete in two-person teams and are tasked with passing physical obstacles as well as answering questions hidden in different locations around the world to advance to the next challenge.

As announced in 2022, “007: Road to a Million” was in the works for four years at Prime Video, prior to Amazon purchasing James Bond studio MGM in an $8.5 billion deal. Bond movie producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are behind the reality series, as well as MGM Television’s Mark Burnett and Barry Poznick, plus Britain’s 72 Films.

The reality show was filmed in the Scottish Highlands, the Atacama Desert in Chile, the Swiss Alps, and Venice, Italy, home of the iconic “Casino Royale” boat race.

The eight-episode reality competition series marks the next Bond-related project prior to the official unveiling of who will play the famed MI6 agent next. Producer Wilson said in 2022 during a British Film Institute panel that a “30-something” actor will take over the “veteran” spy role. Regé-Jean Page, Tom Hardy, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson have been rumored to be on the shortlist.

Producer Wilson revealed that every Bond has to audition using a scene from 1963’s “From Russia With Love,” during which Sean Connery’s Bond confronts Soviet military member Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) when she is in his bed and wearing only a choker necklace.

“We always use the same scene, and that’s the one in ‘From Russia With Love’ where Bond comes back to his room after the assassination, and he starts taking off his shirt, goes into the room to bathe,” Wilson said. “Then he hears something, takes his gun, goes in and the girl’s in the bed. That was the test we use. Anyone who can bring that scene off is right for Bond. It’s tough to do.”

“007: Road to a Million” premieres November 10 on Prime Video. Check out the teaser below.

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