Before developing The Living Daylights as Timothy Dalton’s James Bond debut, Eon almost made Dalton’s first Bond movie as a prequel to Dr. No that would fill in 007’s origin story. Every Bond movie goes through a few different iterations before Eon arrives at the final product. They always go through several script drafts and they’ll sometimes develop multiple scripts that go unproduced. But there are even more iterations than usual when the producers are rebooting the series with a new Bond actor.

Hiring a new Bond actor is a chance to reinvent the franchise. It’s an opportunity to figure out what didn’t work about the previous incarnation and rectify it. After Dalton’s Bond movies were criticized for being too dark, Pierce Brosnan’s Bond movies lightened up the tone. After Brosnan’s Bond movies were criticized for being too far-fetched, Daniel Craig’s Bond movies grounded the series in gritty realism. Dalton’s Bond era was almost a very different kind of reinvention following the Roger Moore years.

An Unmade Timothy Dalton James Bond Movie Ended By Setting Up Dr. No

An Unproduced Bond 15 Script Was An Origin Story For 007

As detailed in “The Lost Adventures of James Bond” by Mark Edlitz, After Moore stepped down from the role of Bond, screenwriter Richard Maibaum and producer Michael G. Wilson came up with a script for the next film that would ultimately go unused. It would’ve been a prequel exploring Bond’s backstory. The script revolved around a younger Bond in his 20s, reckoning with his family legacy. He would join the Secret Intelligence Service and team up with the current 007 on a mission to take down an arms-trafficking warlord named Kwang in the Golden Triangle.

The final scene of this script would set up Sean Connery’s first Bond movie, Dr. No. After being promoted to 00 status, Bond would be sent to Jamaica to investigate the mysterious “Doctor No.” Eon ultimately decided to go in another direction, because they didn’t think audiences would want to see a young, inexperienced Bond still learning the ropes. Of course, they would later reverse that decision and make a prequel about an inexperienced Bond’s backstory with Casino Royale.

What Timothy Dalton Being A Pre-Connery 007 Would Have Meant For James Bond’s Timeline

It Would’ve Completely Upended The Timeline

If Dalton’s first Bond movie was a prequel set before the Connery films, it would’ve completely upended the timeline. Up to that point, the James Bond franchise was a more or less linear continuity. George Lazenby’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service followed up on the Blofeld storyline from Connery’s You Only Live Twice, and Moore’s For Your Eyes Only had references to Blofeld and Tracy Bond to link it to Connery and Lazenby’s movies. Ultimately, Craig’s movies would upend the timeline with a prequel in the first movie and a canonical death in the last one.

Source: “The Lost Adventures of James Bond” by Mark Edlitz.