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There is a saying – all good things come to those who wait – which, in the movie industry, is a bit rubbish most of the time. You’re usually better off seizing every opportunity that comes up, but for Pierce Brosnan, he had to wait years after he was cast to play James Bond. Not because he passed on a script or because of production delays, but because NBC wouldn’t let him out of his contract to play Remington Steele.

Pierce Brosnan was recently on Late Night with Seth Meyers to promote The Thursday Murder Club, but no one can ever resist asking him about his time as James Bond. Turns out, Brosnan was cast as Bond long before GoldenEye – he was originally meant to be the lead in The Living Daylights. 

“They cancelled [Remington Steele] after the fourth season, and then they offered me James Bond,” Brosnan explained. However, he couldn’t get out of his contract quite that easily. “So, you know, they, the fans, protested outside of NBC. ‘Don’t steal Remington Steel.’ ‘Our Bond.‘ You know, they wanted me but they had, NBC, they had 60 days, MTM, Mary Tyler Moore. They had 60 days in which to resell the show should it be cancelled. And during those 60 days, I did the wardrobe fitting. I had ‘The Living Daylights,’ the script right beside the bed. Day 59, all is good. We’re okay. [Albert] Broccoli, he said, ‘Look, you can have him for six episodes, but no more than six episodes.’ Day 59. Day 60, we’re in Malibu, in the colony. Six o’clock in the evening, bottle of Cristal champagne.”

However, that was the moment when NBC famously changed its mind. “Phone rings. ‘Hello? Hello?’” Brosnan recalled. “Oh. They wanted the option of 22 [episodes]. [Broccoli] said, ‘That’s it. All bets are off.’ And that was it. Timothy Dalton was in the next week.”

Of course, Brosnan would eventually get his chance to play James Bond in GoldenEye several years later, but we would have to wait for Timothy Dalton to have his turn at the role in two Bond films before that could happen. 

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