Before They Were Bond: How 007 Kept Eluding Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan

Let’s talk about that weird moment in Bond history where Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan just kept swapping turns circling the role of 007—sometimes both so close to being James Bond that the tux was basically measured, only to miss out at the last second. Want backstory, ego, drama, and a ton of could-have-beens? Strap in, because even the origin stories for Bond actors get about as twisty as a classic villain plot.

The Bond Actors Who Almost Weren’t

These days everyone’s obsessed with who's about to get handed that next Walther PPK: Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner, whoever, it's always someone whose agent is sick of Bond questions. But this churn isn’t new at all. Brosnan especially might be the original “future Bond” meme, dogged by the role for years before he got the chance—and, at one point, getting it yanked away right as it fell into his lap.

Meanwhile, Dalton’s path was even stranger. He was in the running—or at least being courted—during no fewer than three separate periods spanning TWO DECADES, with Brosnan’s own “almost 007” moments winding up tangled in Dalton’s timeline. It’s like the producers couldn’t figure out which brooding heartthrob would work as Bond… so they kept going back and forth, adjusting the role to fit with whoever was available or not shooting themselves in the foot with studio deals.

The Search for Bond: Dalton’s Long, Long Interview

If you want a timeline, here’s how messy this got:

• Late 60s: With Sean Connery bowing out, producers are BEGGING for a new Bond. Dalton, just 22 and recently out of RADA, has the acting chops (and was working opposite Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter), but he thinks he’s way too young. So he says no the first time.
• Early 70s: After George Lazenby flames out with “creative differences” of the most dramatic kind, Dalton gets asked again, but passes. He’s busy with a hot career—again, not really eager to step into Connery’s shadow.
• Late 70s: Roger Moore’s Bond starts to look a tad creaky, and producers seriously consider booting him post-Moonraker. They approach Dalton for the THIRD time. And again he says no, claiming not to like the “tone” (which, let’s be honest, was full camp at that point).

Brosnan: The Right Face, Wrong Time—Literally

By the time For Your Eyes Only is shooting, we’ve got Brosnan floating around set with his wife (who, ironically, is a Bond girl in the movie). Producer Cubby Broccoli notices him. The quote here is practically prophetic:

'If he can act, he’s my Bond.'

Brosnan is the obvious frontrunner for the role looming over the whole 80s—and would have gotten it earlier if Remington Steele hadn’t tied him up with network contracts and TV politics. There’s an absurd one-two punch: Brosnan is offered Bond, TV execs get greedy and revive Remington Steele to ride the Bond hype, and Eon yanks the offer because they don’t want Bond diluted by a TV riff-off. All this after a huge public announcement that Brosnan would be 007.

Brosnan later admitted he couldn’t even watch Dalton’s Bond movies; seeing that big 'The Living Daylights' poster, knowing it could have been him, straight-up stung.

Enter Dalton (Finally)—Because of a Flop? Of Course.

Here’s a truly inside wrinkle: Dalton only takes the Bond offer for one reason—his latest “big Hollywood” movie, Brenda Starr, is a total debacle. The thing is so delayed it doesn’t hit North America until years after Dalton is long finished being 007.

Dalton had always had reservations about Bond—a mix of not wanting to be typecast and publicly ragging on the silliness of the late Roger Moore era. But with his career needing a jolt, he finally calls the producers from a Miami airport and makes it official: he’ll be James Bond.

There’s a bit of irony here: The Living Daylights is built for someone Brosnan-esque—bit more suave, romance-heavy, and reminiscent of the old days. The script even had a full-on 'magic carpet ride' escape stunt that Dalton visibly hated, and honestly, he was never quite comfortable in the greatest hits of Bond tropes: awkward with the cigarette, a little off in the “wash-and-wear” 80s suits. But in action scenes or a tux? The guy looked the business.

Dalton’s Run—Hits and Misses

Despite the myth, Dalton’s Bond wasn’t a flop. The Living Daylights actually outperformed plenty of Moore entries internationally, and it’s a bit underrated as a low-key reboot. But it was always clear the studio was ready to shift tone: his next one, Licence to Kill, dials up the darkness, the violence (finally a PG-13 for Bond), and even mimics trends like Miami Vice and '80s drug lords.

Licence to Kill is almost a proto-Daniel Craig era Bond: angrier, more vengeful, more brutal—not necessarily what the American market wanted in 1989, at least after a summer dominated by Batman, Indiana Jones, and Lethal Weapon 2. It bombed in the US ($34M) but killed it overseas ($121M), so “flop” is overstating it—but MGM and EON were hoping for GoldenEye-style numbers.

Plans were in motion for Dalton to return in The Property of a Lady (Bond in China!) but a legal battle ate up years, and by the time it could happen, the Bond brain trust and Dalton both agreed: time for a new start.

Brosnan: At Last

Through all the ‘almosts’, Brosnan kept busy… minus that failed Remington Steele comeback. He did some B-movies, played the villain in The Fourth Protocol, and wound up as the “other guy” in Mrs. Doubtfire. That’s actually what helped him finally land Bond—the director vouched for him, and with Dalton done, Brosnan was back in the running, this time aged right into the role.

The world basically threw a party when Brosnan signed for GoldenEye. The movie was a hit everywhere, and each of his Bond entries did even better at the box office, culminating in Die Another Day.

Here’s the kicker—the material was… eh. Even Brosnan knew it, lobbying hard for a darker Bond, only for EON to drop him when they finally decided to go gritty with Casino Royale. A seriously anticlimactic exit.

After 007—Two Careers, Two Different Roads

After Bond, both actors wrestled with being typecast as “the guy who used to be James Bond.” Dalton had a rougher time—think, B-movies, bit roles, until he showed up on quality TV like Penny Dreadful and 1923. Brosnan, meanwhile, scored some critical wins (The Matador is worth your time) and more recently impressed as a villain in MobLand. Funny enough, Brosnan is still rumored for a possible “old man Bond” if Amazon ever gets weird with the franchise, and honestly, I’d watch it.

The Last Sip—Bond Roles Never Come Easy

If you ever wondered why the Bond rumors are always so breathless and speculative, well, it turns out it’s always been this messy. Even the men who played 007 only did so after years of near-misses, bizarre studio deals, and timing that would make even Q’s eyebrow twitch. In the end, both Dalton and Brosnan had “what if” careers defined by the part they nearly didn’t get… and a little haunted by the parts of Bond they didn’t get to play.