Pierce Brosnan is returning to series television for the first time in 30 years courtesy of AMC’s new drama The Son.

The former James Bond will replace Sam Neill as the patriarch of a Texas family in a story about the clan’s lives and loves.

Sam, recently seen in BBC Two’s Peaky Blinders, has departed The Son for personal reasons, according to Deadline.

Pierce Brosnan is returning to televisionPierce Brosnan is returning to television (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Pierce has concentrated on movie roles since 1987, but he made a brief return to the small screen in 1989 for mini-series Around The World In 80 Days and in 2011 for the two-part adaptation of Stephen King’s Bag Of Bones.

The 63-year-old has signed on for the new AMC series which has been given an order of 10 episodes for 2017.

Ireland-born Pierce moved to the US from the UK and rose to fame in 1980s murder-mystery TV series Remington Steele.

As the dapper titular head of Remington Steele Investigations, Pierce was a hit with viewers as the male front while real owner and investigator Laura Holt (portrayed by Stephanie Zimbalist) did all the hard work.

Pierce Brosnan as James BondPierce Brosnan as James Bond (PA)

Remington Steele included nods to 007, which was ironic because its brief cancellation in 1986 prevented Pierce from accepting the James Bond role when network NBC reversed its decision to axe the show.

All the interest in Pierce sparked by the Bond press reports was too good an opportunity to miss and so the show limped on for a final truncated season.

Pierce Brosnan played James Bond in four filmsPierce Brosnan played James Bond in four films (Franka Bruns/AP)

Timothy Dalton played Bond in The Living Daylights instead, while Pierce had to wait until 1994 before he was officially announced as the world’s most famous secret agent.

The opening episode of The Son will be helmed by British director Tom Harper, lately of BBC One’s War And Peace.