In 2023, Pierce Brosnan began a new phase of his career as host of the History Channel documentary crime series History’s Greatest Heists, following in the footsteps of Laurence Fishburne, the host of History’s Greatest Mysteries, and Morgan Freeman, the host of History’s Greatest Escapes.

History’s Greatest Heists explores the planning, execution, and aftermath of some of the most elaborate and spectacular heists in history through cinematic recreations, interviews, and visual effects. The first episode features the 2003 Antwerp diamond heist, in which a group of Italian thieves infiltrated the seemingly impregnable vault of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre and stole more than $100 million in jewelry.

Like Michael Mann’s great crime films, History’s Greatest Heists generates excitement by combining a presentation of the incredible technical precision that goes into the execution of a massive heist with a study of the criminal psychology of desperation and greed that ultimately leads most of the world’s greatest criminal masterminds to their downfall.

However, despite a compelling first season, History’s Greatest Heists, unlike its counterparts, hasn’t returned for a second season, for which there remains a countless number of notable heists left to be explored through the engaging presentation of Brosnan, whose appearance on the show recalls some of his most memorable performances.

Pierce Brosnan Proves There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect Crime

While History’s Greatest Heists certainly generates excitement with its portrayal of the meticulous execution and planning that resulted in some of the biggest heists in history, the most dramatic aspect of the series involves what happens after the heists are successfully completed. As the show makes clear, executing a heist is often secondary in terms of difficulty to avoiding capture, which often results from sheer stupidity on the part of the otherwise brilliant criminals.

The most glaring example of this paradox is the episode involving the 1972 United California Bank robbery, in which a group of thieves from Ohio traveled to remote Laguna Niguel, California, where they robbed the United California Bank of approximately $9 million in cash and valuables. While the heist itself was brilliantly executed, every other aspect of the crime was bungled, beginning with the fact that the thieves, instead of driving to the location, took a commercial flight to California with their real identification. Moreover, after returning to Ohio, again by commercial flight, the thieves staged another heist, which enabled the FBI to link the two crimes.

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Like Michael Mann’s Heat, some of the heists featured in History’s Greatest Heists boiled down both to a battle of wits between cops and criminals and the desperate attempts of criminals to sever all ties to their crimes. With the 1971 Baker Street Robbery, in which thieves tunneled into Lloyds Bank in London to steal safety deposit boxes, the thieves found themselves hunted by Scotland Yard, as portrayed in the 2008 film The Bank Job. In the aftermath of the Lufthansa Heist, which is referenced in the movie Goodfellas, virtually everyone who was associated with the heist was murdered.

One of the problems with being a master criminal is that there are very few of them, and most of them are in prison. After a major heist is executed, the typical response of law enforcement is to begin with the usual suspects.

Pierce Brosnan Is a Heist Expert

In addition to Pierce Brosnan’s trademark debonair persona, which was immortalized when he played James Bond in the James Bond film series in four films between 1995 and 2002, he was the perfect choice to host History’s Greatest Heists due to his extensive history within the heist genre.

Brosnan first gained fame on the 1980s television series Remington Steele, in which he plays the show’s titular character, a former thief who assumes the identity of a private detective. Beyond the James Bond series, Brosnan had his greatest success as a leading man when he emulated Steve McQueen in the 1999 romantic heist film The Thomas Crown Affair, in which the actor, donning McQueen’s titular role from the 1968 film of the same name, plays a billionaire art thief who steals for the sheer thrill of the crime.

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In the 2004 heist action-comedy film After the Sunset, Brosnan plays Max Burdett, a master jewel thief who attempts to evade an FBI agent, played by Woody Harrelson, in the Caribbean. More recently, in the 2023 action comedy film The Out-Laws, Brosnan plays Billy McDermott, the leader of a bank-robbing group called the Ghost Bandits.

History Is Full of Great Heists for Brosnan to Cover

If History’s Greatest Heists ever returns for a second season, there are many notable heists for the show to explore. One heist that was supposed to be featured in the first season but was discarded is the 1899 Wilcox train robbery in Wilcox, Wyoming, where armed men hijacked a train and escaped with approximately $36,000 in cash and valuables. While unsolved, the robbery was linked to legendary outlaw Butch Cassidy, played by Paul Newman in the 1969 Western film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The largest bank robbery and criminal heist in history wasn’t committed by a professional thief but rather by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, when Hussein, in advance of the United States invasion of Iraq, sent one of his sons, Qusay, to the Central Bank of Iraq with a handwritten note that authorized the illegal removal of nearly $1 billion in cash, which was loaded into trailers and trucks. While approximately $650 million of the stolen money was found hidden behind a wall in one of Saddam’s palaces, the rest of the money has never been recovered. History’s Greatest Heists is streaming on the History Channel website, Disney+, and Hulu.