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Changing 007s has never been easy for the Bond franchise, but the transition from Roger Moore to Timothy Dalton may have been the bumpiest of all.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, which was the fifteenth episode in the Eon Productions series, opened July 31, 1987 via MGM/UA. Directed by John Glen (FOR YOUR EYES ONLY), it was produced by Albert R. Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson and co-produced by Barbara Broccoli. The title came from an Ian Fleming short story.

Besides the rigors of casting Bond, DAYLIGHTS also saw Lois Maxwell’s departure as Miss Moneypenny. Her replacement, Caroline Bliss, only played the role once more — in 1989’s LICENCE TO KILL, which marked Dalton’s exit.
Broccoli and his team knew in the fall of 1987, while developing their next Bond screenplay, that Moore wasn’t returning. Moore, who would have turned 59 by the time DAYLIGHTS saw the light of day, was exhausted after 12 years and seven Bonds.

Eon’s exhaustive search for his successor as Fleming’s quintessential British MI6 agent included Pierce Brosnan from Ireland, Dalton from Wales & Sam Neill from New Zealand. Neill was the first choice of Glen, Broccoli’s stepson Wilson, Broccoli’s wife Dana & his daughter Barbara. Broccoli, however, didn’t agree with them.

After Brosnan was cast following three days of screen tests, things began to get muddled. Brosnan was still under contract to star in the TV series REMINGTON STEELE, which NBC had recently cancelled due to soft ratings. But the unexpected news about Brosnan becoming the next Bond boosted STEELE’s ratings.

NBC had three days left on its 60-day option to hold Brosnan for one more STEELE season. Naturally, NBC decided to keep him. Then Broccoli changed his mind. As Broccoli put it, Remington Steele would not be James Bond. Reports that Brosnan was out as Bond sent STEELE’s ratings plunging so NBC produced only five new episodes before dropping the series.

Dana proposed casting Dalton, but Broccoli wasn’t happy because Dalton had told the media he wasn’t interested in playing Bond. Broccoli did, however, agree to meet with Dalton. At first, there was a time conflict because Dalton was about to start shooting the 1989 adventure BRENDA STARR. But then there were long delays on the Bond front, by which time Dalton was once again available.

When he got an offer from Broccoli, he accepted quickly — but delayed signing his contract. That prompted a Bond audition for English actor Robert Bathurst, who later called it just “an arm twisting exercise” meant to push Dalton into signing.

Dalton was traveling then, which he later explained gave him time to think about everything: “The moment of truth was fast approaching…and that’s where I said ‘yes.’ I picked up the phone from the hotel room in the Miami airport and called them and said, ‘Yep, you’re on. I’ll do it!’”