Ordinary people. Epic adventure.
Bursts of David Arnold’s Bond scoring work ricochet across the opening frames, a pair of contestants are grilled by a familiar Bond world actor, a set of four trademark Bond wheels kick up the dust across the world, and an iconic and terrifying Bond location soon pushes both contestants over an edge most Bond stunt-crews can only tackle…
Welcome to 007 – Road to a Million, Season Two.
Television has always been a key part of the James Bond success. Vital even. Whilst movie Bond steadfastly, diligently and rightly remains a pop-cultural beast of theatrical cinema for seven decades and counting, it has been television screens that broadened and embolden the reach of 007. The silver screen is where Bond is first seen. The television screen is arguably where he is first remembered. And as new Bond captains Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Prime are beasts of both theatrical and streaming worlds, Bond’s televisual time is merely beginning.
The first screen adaptation of any 007 property was an American TV show. CBS’s live adaptation of Casino Royale was the third instalment of a drama strand called Climax! – and was first broadcast on Thursday 21st October 1954. The spy-maker himself was arguably more interested in the potential of TV for his creation than the big screen.
As 1960s Bond mania raced around the world quicker than a TV broadcast and stations endeavored to cash in on the 007 phenomenon, 1967’s movie You Only Live Twice had its own television spin-off. Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond was a dramatized promo project with a wealth of clips from the first four 007 movies designed to push Sean Connery’s fifth 007 bullet. Starring Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny, Desmond Llewelyn as ‘Q’ and Kate O’Mara (The Colbys, Doctor Who) as Moneypenny’s assistant, Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond operated in the Connery Bond world – featuring music, locations, vehicles and travelogue beats surrounding that 007 in that moment in time. It also ends on being a promo beat for 1969’s so far uncast On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Seventy years plus after CBS’s Casino Royale and Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond later added to the TV branding of 007, a new season of a new Bond TV show is now available on Prime Video. 72 Films and Prime’s 007 – Road to a Million is now firing its second season at the world and operates via music, locations, vehicles and travelogue beats familiar to 007’s movie capers and global reach.
As the whole 007 momentum journeys into its eighth decade and Bond’s new creative bosses Amazon MGM Studios, producers David Heyman and Amy Pascal, director Denis Villeneuve and screenwriter Steven Knight look to younger demographics, beats and new technologies to re-bolster and re-point the franchise’s appeal, name, and energy, a show like this has a big mission on its hands.
007 – Road to a Million is a project that pre-dates the Amazon MGM Studios partnership and eventual artistic takeover of the Bond series. It was pre-pandemic when 72 Films’ David Glover first approached creative house EON Productions about the possibility of a non-fiction adventure television series. With the very might, petty cash and tech device reach of Amazon Prime Video and the work of Amazon Studios representing a canny older tech brother for the Bond franchise, this is not some deathly downgrading of 007. Cue Netflix’s breakout hit Squid Game and its own recent reality TV spin-off, Squid Game – The Challenge and all manner of new era franchise crossovers, reality sidebars and content.
Granted, as this second series hits Prime from August 22 2025, it is ever curious to see the movie world of Bond feed into a television show of this nature. A sort of Treasure Hunt meets Who Wants to Be A Millionaire in a tuxedo, there is a subtle inclusion of a lot of real Bond detail. The casting of a vintage boat from Bond’s 1970s history, a carefully located DB5, a snowy backdrop to aerial dangers, some casting personnel, a trash can, some cannily sourced music cues, and at least one Brosnan-era edifice suggests someone knows their Bond.
However, Season Two is not a Bond pub quiz with helicopters, cable cars, sharks and fancy Day of the Dead costuming. The contestants are not even platinum-card carrying Bond fans. And this is oddly why the show works. When one contestant remembers how Bond to him represents a vital childhood distraction for an hour or two, this show reminds it is about the fun of Bond and not the academic minutia and how many boxsets a fan should own.
And as every next Bond adventures knows, you change things up a bit next time round. So the second season of 007 – Road to a Million is ramping up its concept, challenges, references and rules. Instead of navigating the Bond world tasks and locations alone, the eight pairs of teams are now pitched directly against each other in a rejigged format that sometimes positions contestants fate in the hands of their competitors. The contestants can now learn who their rivals are, how they tick and where they are in the competition. Their tactics are now transparent as spy games become mind games and betrayal and one-upmanship are the necessary gadgets. It is now easier for any Season Two pair to help eliminate a rival and one pair must leave the show at the end of each episode. In true Ru-Paul’s Drag Race style – although contestants are not yet lip-syncing to Bond anthems – the two lowest achieving pairs will face the ‘Killer’ question. And it is harsh.
The 007 challenges and quests of Season One have also had a glow up. As all tasks are Bond-skewed the familiar and brand new film locations and worlds now include shark diving, navigating Alpine cable cars, climbing Bangkok tower blocks, traversing spy tech and intricate puzzles, and all manner of spy resilience, physical flair and intel gathering. Fresh global Bond locations connect each episode with more Easter Egg placements, tricks and teases for the more veteran fan and some Bond world fun for newcomers. The new geo-pins for Season Two include Thailand (as seen in The Man with the Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies), Austria (The Living Daylights, Spectre), Switzerland (GoldenEye), the Bahamas (Casino Royale, Thunderball) and Mexico (Licence to Kill, Spectre). Bunkers, familiar cars, film used boats, and even a trash canister feel 007-familiar.
Returning to cause stealth havoc, mystery and intrigue is ‘The Controller’, as played by actor Brian Cox. His control room has also had a spruce up and his London HQ has more than one surprise for any surviving pairs at the series’ end. And before.
From Manhunter to Bond hunter, ‘The Controller’ is a warm, but malevolent, almost sinister overseer. These contestants are the mice at the end of his cat’s string. He is blunt, comedic, scary, in charge, encouraging and coldly brilliant – all at the same time. Cox reminds of what sort of a great Bond – or Bond villain – the series never had. He is the detail-free gravitas the show needs. With new assistant ‘Sofia’ (Frances McNamee), The Controller continues to be his flint-faced self, but is however wise to the personal strains, emotions, powerplays and vulnerabilities of his new batch of sixteen contestants.
‘It’s a different series from the first one. There’s more
interaction between me and the contestants, which I
think is a great thing and a great improvement. To
me, that works incredibly well and I’m very excited by
that. It’s also infinitely more Bond-related.’Brian Cox, The Controller
Season Two’s ‘agents’ consist of Camden-based husbands Rob (57) and Alex (48), siblings Asaad (32) and Jamilia (34), father and son Dylan (22) and Dan (46) who have overcome autism and lost time to now bond more deeply via Bond, married couple Steven (53) and Shelley (51) need to reconnect with the world and adventure, London sisters Cat (26) and Maiya (23) bring a mixed world of barristers and catwalk models to the game, best pals Ricky (41) and Noddy (41) are fiercely loyal since a young, shared age, spouses Shabina (50) and Sid (52) are from London’s Ilford and facing a new chapter in life where they get to live their post-kids life with some potential adventure, and best mates Sam (34) and Luke (34) are wanting the challenge after a physical tragedy and single parenthood has already yielded somewhat different life tasks and challenges.
‘It can be incredibly touching to see their individual
struggles, which is slightly separate from the
challenges on the show and the competition
element, but it’s about how they’ve come to the show
and where they’re coming from generally in life.’Brian Cox, The Controller
From the get-go, 007 – Road to a Million has evolved from its 2023 debut season. The detached nature of the original pairs on their own take of each quest is now replaced with an all-inclusive competition where the constants now know who each other is, where they are and what progress they have individually made. With zero time to settle, the eight pairs are immediately flung into action, soundtracked by John Barry’s The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy music cues and surrounded by exotic dioramas and carefully mounted car-cams. Key Bond names become mission objectives, contestants get to drive the toy cars from their childhood, passing beaches are maybe more familiar than first thought, and the spine of the ongoing interviews and player insight is cleverly cast for any fans of the Craig era. But the Brosnan registry of films are also a key spine here. Beats and drama motifs from his set pieces are restitched and relocated and a task can veer from 1990s Thailand to 2010s Europe via 1970s Asia and all manner of knowing Bond tics and treats. And then mid-way through the season, a new structural twist really puts the cat amongst the John Glen pigeons as co-operation and a delicious detente puts the whole show on a fun tangent. It is here the personalities and sense of competition really rise to the surface like a 1977 Lotus Esprit, and forward-facing back-stabbing provide an espionage twist. ‘Taking the bloody shot’ matters in this second chapter. So does partisan gameplay.
Immediately the call on the part of 72 Films to splice the contestants and their adventuring together is a slick move. The show now has that Bond-like pacing and sense of intercutting narrative. The episodes collectively then hold greater connectivity. And interest. ‘The Controller’ is no longer a disconnected overlord, but now a London based boss the contestants wholly interact with rather than were maybe edited together in hindsight via voiceovers as seen in the debut season. The Controller’s assistant ‘Sofia’ feels somewhat of a redundant office party MI6 secretary and Bond is not really about screens, log-in passwords and world cam tech. However, the gameplay of 007 – Road to a Million needs that structure.
One of the charms of the first season was these are genuinely regular folk pushed into Bond adventuring like never before. 72 Films have once again shot, lit and cut this show with great care and Bond-minded diligence, and cast a real mix of folk, couples and friendships. Multi-cameras and production teams remain offscreen and the sheen of this series improves on what was already a rich production. And just as the luxurious tech and location intrigue almost becomes too rich, a task or two returns the show to Bond’s simple origins in a wholly stark and harsh way – as in the final episode where 007’s literary and cinematic roots meet like a blunt instrument.
007 – Road to a Million: Season Two is streaming now on Prime Video.
Many thanks to 72 Films, the PR team, Prime, and Amazon MGM Studios.
