Pierce Brosnan, who played James Bond in four of the spy movies, believes the iconic character has changed dramatically since his successor took over the role.

“It’s totally changed since Daniel Craig is playing it. They wanted to modernize Bond. I didn’t stop voluntarily,” the 56-year-old actor said. “We talked about a fifth movie and then came the call that I am out. Total change of direction. That was very hard.”

Although he was upset to be axed from the action franchise, Pierce claims that since his last Bond outing in 2002’s Die Another Day, his career has changed for the better. “So much the better how my career evolved. But being an actor is only my second career choice. Primarily I am a father,” he told website Kurier.at.

Despite his thoughts on the role, Pierce hasn’t even watched Craig in action. “I haven’t seen Daniel in the role. I tried watching it on an airplane. I thought 37,000 feet was a good distance to watch it from and it broke down right at the beginning,” he recalled. “The attendant came and changed it and it broke down a second time, so I figured, ‘OK. The Gods must be saying something…’ So I never went near it!”

Brosnan’s next film, Remember Me with Robert Pattinson, opens on March 12.