Jamie Dornan is shaken, if not stirred, to discover that he quite possibly has lost the James Bond film franchise role to… Al Nash… in a first promo for the second episode of Saturday Night Live UK.
In the promo above, the Northern Irish actor—known for TV’s Belfast as well as the Fifty Shades movies—is seated on home base at SNL UK‘s TC1 Studio when cast members Hammed Animashaun, Celeste Dring, and Al Nash check in on their next host.
Alas, just as Dornan gets to expressing his excitement for the gig, Nash’s mobile buzzes. It’s “the Bond people,” he reports—as in, the producers who will be deciding on the next actor to portray 007 on the big screen.
“It’s just me and Jacob Elordi,” Nash says, “so fingers crossed!”
When a dejected Dornan shares that he, too, had thrown his hat in the ring to play the elite British secret agent, the SNL UK trio offer a modicum of sympathy, but also a bit of bewilderment. Nash offers up a taste for what he plans to bring to the role, after which the cast members nudge Dornan to do same.
Press play above to witness Dornan’s take on the iconic “Bond, James Bond” line reading, and then compare it to Nash’s.
Joining Dornan for SNL UK’s second episode is musical guest Wolf Alice. They’ll be followed on April 4 by British actor Riz Ahmed with “titans of rock” Kasabian. Episodes air across the pond on Sky One at 10 p.m. GMT, and stream Stateside on Peacock Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.
Ahead of SNL UK‘s March 21 series premiere (hosted by Tina Fey), the SNL offshoot saw its episode count leap from just six to eight.
Ratings-wise, SNL UK debuted to 226,000 total viewers (according to official BARB figures supplied by overnights.tv), an audience almost four times larger than Sky’s most popular entertainment program, the sports-based panel comedy A League of Their Own. It also bested time slot rival Channel 4’s airing of Mission Impossible—Rogue Nation (which drew 215,000 viewers).
