Pierce Brosnan became the latest in a long line of famous men to take up the role of Thomas storyteller in 2008, previously starring as James Bond for many years prior to being usurped by the producers in favour of new star Daniel Craig.
 
Brosnan also said he shares an interest and love of the characters, having read the stories with his children when they were young, much like that of Michael Brandon.
 
Taking advantage of Pierce's global A-List fame status, for the first time in over fifteen years, all English speaking territories were to share the same narrator for the 2008 onward series.  However, since initial press statements were made, his involvement with Thomas has been cut back to 'Special Guest Narrator' solely for The Great Discovery DVD, and it appears that he has abandoned the series completely, with Michael Angelis and Michael Brandon resuming their duties as the storytellers for the series.