Credit: Netflix

Before Golden Eye became an indestructible horcrux binding Pierce Brosnan to James Bond for eternity, he had already spent six seasons on Remington Steele, picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Nancy Astor and worked opposite everyone from Michael Caine in The Fourth Protocol to Robin Williams in Mrs Doubtfire. So no, Bond did not ‘invent’ Pierce Brosnan.

But post-Bond Brosnan is where the real fun begins. He could have lived off the tuxedo forever if he wanted to, and nobody would have blamed him, to be honest; instead, he gave us The Assassin from The Matador, the ex-prime minister from The Ghost Writer and then, just to prove his range, Mamma Mia!

There is plenty more once you start excavating. He took on Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe, remade The Thomas Crown Affair with Rene Russo (that rhymed well), while also producing and starring in Evelyn, and later picking up another Golden Globe nomination for The Matador.

After all that, if you look at Netflix’s current Brosnan cupboard, you will be nothing but disappointed. For a career this large, only a sliver is available to stream there at the moment. What a shame! Still, the five films we do have provide enough variety for a decent Brosnan binge, so let us make the case.

Five Pierce Brosnan movies on Netflix worth watching

Black Adam (2022)

Black Adam may belong to Dwayne Johnson, but then Pierce Brosnan strolls in as Doctor Fate and gives the whole thing some gravitas. Brosnan plays Kent Nelson, a senior Justice Society member and an archaeologist bound to the Helmet of Fate, which gives him powers of sorcery and visions of the future. So yes, he is the bloke who knows everyone is about to make a bad decision before they make it.

Then Black Adam wakes up after thousands of years and starts causing havoc in Kahndaq, and Doctor Fate has to get involved with the rest of the Justice Society to stop things from getting completely out of hand.

And there is plenty of chaos, mind you. CGI everywhere, buildings getting smashed, people flying about, yet Brosnan barely needs to move. He gives Doctor Fate this melancholy authority that cuts through all the noise.

Fast Charlie (2023)

Brosnan’s Charlie Swift has spent 20 years cleaning up messes for Mississippi mob boss Stan Mullen, so you would think he had seen it all. But just then, a rival gangster wipes out Stan and most of his crew and leaves Charlie with bodies to deal with and a score to settle. Excuse me, sir, he’s not James freaking Bond, at least not this time.

Then Marcie arrives in the form of Morena Baccarin, playing the ex-wife of one of Charlie’s victims, and instead of becoming another complication, she ends up helping him. Better still, she is not dazzled by him, but Pierce Brosnan is the reason Fast Charlie works so well.

He does not pretend Charlie is some ageless killing machine and instead lets the years show, as well as the patience. Charlie feels dangerous because he has survived this world for decades and knows exactly when to make a move, and especially when not to.

Four Letters of Love (2025)

William Coughlan is not some warm father figure keeping everybody steady, far from it. He is a Dublin civil servant in 1970s Ireland who becomes convinced God wants him to paint, so he packs in the job and goes all in. But, hang on, you’ve got a family to feed. Well, William doesn’t give a flying fart.

Naturally, this sends the Coughlan household into a bit of a state. Nicholas, his son, is left trying to work out what on earth has got into him, as William heads west, while one of his paintings ends up helping set Nicholas on the path towards Isabel.

William is an unlikeable character in the film, and no amount of ‘Brosnan charm’ makes it remotely bearable. The man can be neglectful and stubborn, and the 73-year-old actor did a good job making us believe that. Annoying, isn’t it? Just when you fancy writing him off, Brosnan gives you a reason not to.

The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

Now this is more like it, a Netflix original and a recent one. On top of all that, a murder mystery… Oh, you are in for a fun ride. Pierce Brosnan plays Ron Ritchie, a former trade union leader living at Coopers Chase, where he spends Thursdays with Elizabeth, Ibrahim and Joyce picking apart old murder cases for a laugh. Lovely little hobby for the oldies! Well, all that until an actual murder falls into their lap.

But before all that, please take a look at the cast. Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie and Pierce Brosnan. Come on! Half the fun is watching four brilliant actors solving a murder mystery with dementia and arthritis; now that’s the spirit. It also gives this Brosnan watchlist a much-needed change of pace.

The Out-Laws (2023)

Ending the list with The Out-Laws feels right because Brosnan gets to turn that slightly dangerous screen presence into the joke itself in this crime comedy.

Brosnan once again plays a father named Billy McDermott, but this time to Nina Dobrev’s Parker, and he arrives with his wife, Lilly, just before Parker is to marry Owen, a nervous bank manager played by Adam Devine.

Right after, however, Owen’s bank gets robbed, and poor Owen is having a proper wobble with that because, without his will, the suspicion is drifting towards the future in-laws. But can you blame him? And Brosnan, he barely has to do anything. His mere presence in the film will help you join Owen in that dilemma; his Billy just sits there looking far too calm for comfort.