For The Living Daylights, producers Cubby Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson decided they needed a fresh approach — and a new 007. 

With Roger Moore deciding to step away from the role after A View To A Kill — his seventh film over a 12 year period — the team including Broccoli, Wilson, associate producer Barbara Broccoli and director John Glen, faced the daunting task of finding the new lead for the 15th James Bond film.

“Over the years, many people were tested for Bonds,” said EON publicity and marketing director Jerry Juroe. “There was always a game between Roger and Cubby when the renewal of each picture came up. They would test the most unbelievable people. But eventually Roger said, ‘No more’ and we really had to find someone.”

Casting for the new 007 started in earnest in January 1986. Barbara Broccoli was dispatched to Australia to explore the emergence of young acting talent down under. Broccoli returned with audition tapes of a dozen actors, a couple of which were tested for Bond including model Finlay Light. 

Interviews and auditions continued in London. Head of United Artists Jerry Weintraub wanted Broccoli to consider a young Mel Gibson but the producer had no desire to cast the actor. The search ultimately became a global one; actors tested included New Zealander Sam Neill, Brits Michael Praed and Mark Greenstreet, Australian James Healey and Frenchman Lambert Wilson, who shot a test with actor Maryam d’Abo on April 24 and on the following day, a fight stunt sequence with stunt arranger Vic Armstrong. 

“By this point Ladbrokes, Britain’s leading book-makers, were taking bets on who would play the next James Bond,” remembered Cubby Broccoli. “I favoured Lambert but Michael didn’t. Sam Neill impressed Michael, Barbara, and John, whereas I had my reservations. Ladbrokes had him as a clear favourite”

On May 12, Pierce Brosnan, then the star of the hit TV show Remington Steele, auditioned opposite Annie Lambert, followed by stunt work with Clive Curtis. However, when Brosnan’s contract was renewed by NBC, making him unavailable for Bond, it left the filmmakers in a bind and encouraged them to follow their instincts and look for an actor with a harder edge.

At this point, the team reconsidered an actor who had been on their list of candidates nearly 20 years previously. Having graduated from RADA and working in both TV and film, Timothy Dalton made his film debut as Phillip II of France in The Lion In Winter opposite Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn. The actor, then in his mid-20s, had his reservations.

“In 1968, about the time Sean Connery was looking to relinquish the Bond role, Cubby asked me if I’d be interested in doing James Bond,” recalled Dalton. “It seemed the daftest idea in the world. I was only about 25 years old, and Bond should be in his mid-30s—at least.”

After Moonraker in 1980, Broccoli returned to Dalton when it looked like Roger Moore would exit the series. Yet once again, the actor turned him down, Broccoli reporting that “Timothy said the part intimidated him.” When the producers courted Dalton for the third time for The Living Daylights, the actor felt more suitable for the role. 

“When we met Timothy in 1986, we saw that during these intervening years he had added poise, experience, and self-assurance,” said Cubby Broccoli. “He was excited by the idea. He saw Bond as being more serious, just as ballsy as Connery’s 007, but carrying his own personal imprint. He wanted to play the character closer to the way Fleming wrote it—which was fine with me.”

Scheduling conflicts nearly scuppered Dalton’s chance to play the role but The Living Daylights shifting production dates allowed the actor to take the role. Initially, he refused to screen test, believing his track record as an actor spoke for itself, but the producers wanted to put him on film to gauge his qualities as 007. He tested opposite actor Annie Lambert and stunt performers Paul Weston and Clive Curtis, playing a love scene and action set-piece from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. 

With Dalton signing on the dotted line, the team and actor were united in the decision to return to the spirit of Ian Fleming. In preparation, Dalton re-read all the Fleming novels to immerse himself deeply in the character.

“For me, he clearly lives in the moment,” said Dalton about Bond. “He’s always on the edge of his own death, everything is heightened.”

“Timothy wasn’t as light as Roger — he was hard, closer to Connery,” said John Glen. “This was important to us, as we were taking the series in a different direction.”

Introduced in Casino Royale (2006), Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) works for the Financial Action Task Force of Her Majesty’s Treasury. She is charged with supervising the British government funds to bankroll 007 (Daniel Craig) in a high-stakes game of Texas hold ’em poker at Casino Royale against Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a banker who finances international terrorism. Intelligent and perceptive, her relationship with Bond gets off to a flirtatious start but later develops into something much deeper. 

Vesper first encounters Bond in a dining carriage on a train to Montenegro. The pair trade barbs and insights, with Vesper’s sharp mind and quick wit matching Bond beat for beat.

James Bond: Well, your beauty’s a problem. You worry you won’t be taken seriously.

Vesper Lynd: Which one can say of any attractive woman with half a brain.

When they arrive at Casino Royale, Vesper is initially reluctant to pose as Bond’s trophy girlfriend and refuses to bankroll him further when he runs out of money. She does come to his aid during a fight with Ugandan warlord Steven Obanno (Isaach de Bankolé) — she knocks Bond’s Walther PPK from Obanno’s hand — but the tussle leaves her visibly shaken, Bond consoling her in their hotel room shower, both of them fully clothed.

After Bond re-joins the game, Vesper once again saves his life after Bond is poisoned by Le Chiffre’s girlfriend Valenka (Ivana Miličević). As he struggles to operate an automatic external defibrillator stashed in his Aston Martin DBS, she arrives in the nick of time to connect a key wire, saving the day as the machine brings him back to life.

After Bond wins the poker tournament, Vesper is kidnapped by Le Chiffre and left for dead, tied up in the middle of the road. Giving chase, Bond swerves at the last moment to save running into her. Both are captured by Le Chiffre but rescued by Quantum operative Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who kills Le Chiffre for squandering the organisation’s funds. 

Bond and Vesper admit their feelings for each other. They sail to Venice on holiday, Bond resigning from MI6 and looking to start a new life with Vesper until he realises he has been double-crossed. Vesper withdraws the Casino Royale winnings and hands the money over to Adolph Gettler (Richard Sammel).  

As Bond arrives, Gettler throws Vesper into a caged elevator. A melee ensues, causing the building to sink and flood. Vesper apologises to Bond, locking herself into the lift as it starts to sink underwater. Bond tries to save her, finally extricating her from the elevator, but his attempts at CPR are too late.

As a final declaration of her feelings for Bond, Vesper leaves her phone for 007 to discover, giving him Mr. White’s contact details, a vital clue in bringing down Quantum.

Even after her death, Vesper continues to reverberate around Bond’s story. In Quantum Of Solace (2008), Bond is seeking revenge for Vesper’s death — although he assures M to the contrary — and keeps her photograph with him. He later learns that Vesper was coerced into betraying him by Quantum, who kidnapped her boyfriend, Yusef Kabira (Simon Kassianides). It is later revealed Yusef worked for Quantum seducing high-ranking women in government agencies. When 007 confronts Yusef, he spares his life, leaving him to MI6, acknowledging to M she was right about Vesper all along. As an act of letting go, Bond drops Vesper’s necklace in the snow.

In Spectre (2015), when Bond and Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) arrive at the L’American Hotel in Tangier, 007 discovers in the hotel room a tape titled ‘Vesper Lynd — Interrogation’ conducted by Mr. White. Later, Bond and Madeleine are captured by SPECTRE leader Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), who needles Madeleine with talk about Bond’s love for Vesper as a means of driving a wedge between them. Blofeld revels in the idea that SPECTRE manipulated Vesper into thinking Bond would never believe her, forcing her to take her own life.

Now in a relationship at the start of No Time To Die (2021), Bond and Madeleine travel to Italy after defeating Blofeld, writing their deepest secrets on a piece of paper. The following morning, Bond visits Vesper’s grave simply saying “I miss you”. Taking a moment, Bond burns the piece of paper — it says ‘Forgive Me’ — but the tomb is a trap laid by SPECTRE, and a bomb causes an explosion that knocks Bond off his feet. 

Felix Leiter’s on-screen life is as long as 007’s, appearing in the very first film, Dr. No. (1962). Played by Jack Lord, Felix is a man of mystery, sporting sunglasses when tailing 007 (Sean Connery) upon his arrival at Kingston Airport. After Bond is jumped in a bar by Jamaican fisherman Quarrel (John Kitzmiller) and the bar owner, Leiter holds Bond at gunpoint, announcing his CIA credentials and revealing Quarrel as a fellow agent. Later, Leiter assists Bond with his mission, helping him and Honey Ryder following their escape from Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman)’s hideout. 

Leiter returned in Goldfinger (1964), now played by Cec Linder. He is the first to point out Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) at Bond’s hotel in Miami, and later plays a crucial role in foiling the attack on Fort Knox. In Thunderball (1965) Leiter (Rik Van Nutter) rescues Bond from an underwater cave and calls in the US Navy to battle Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi)’s frogmen.

Played with a lighter, more exasperated touch by Norman Burton in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Leiter helps Bond infiltrate a diamond smuggling ring. Leiter saves Bond’s life by swapping real diamonds for fake ones and does significant work investigating American billionaire Willard Whyte (Jimmy Dean). He also launches the helicopter attack that destroys Blofeld’s (Charles Gray) base on an oil rig.

With a new Bond, Roger Moore, came a new Felix. David Hedison, an old friend of Moore’s, played the character in Live And Let Die (1973). Investigating Harlem drug dealer Mr. Big (Yaphet Kotto), Leiter takes Bond to the Fillet of Soul restaurant, a front for Big’s drugs racket, and smooths things over with the Louisiana police after 007 causes carnage with a speedboat. He later plays a key part in the destruction of Big’s heroin operation.

After John Terry played the character in The Living Daylights (1987), Hedison returned to the role in Licence To Kill (1989), this time playing opposite Timothy Dalton. Rather than assisting Bond, Leiter becomes the catalyst for the plot, after his wife Della (Priscilla Barnes) is killed by drug dealer Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) on their wedding day, causing 007 to seek revenge. Sanchez tortures Leiter by lowering him into a shark tank and leaving him to die. Fittingly, Bond sets fire to Sanchez with Leiter’s best man present — an engraved cigarette lighter.

Leiter did not appear at all during Pierce Brosnan’s era but returned in Casino Royale (2006), played by Jeffrey Wright. Leiter first meets Bond (Daniel Craig) at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. After 007 has lost the funding of treasury agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) to stay in the high-stakes poker game, Leiter gifts Bond $5 million to buy back in. The catch is the CIA will get to bring in Bond’s target Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) once Bond has won the game. 

In Quantum Of Solace (2008), Leiter works with CIA colleague Gregg Beam (David Harbour) to obtain American oil rights in Bolivia from exiled General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio). The corrupt Beam, working in cahoots with Quantum’s Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), arranges for Bond to be killed but Felix warns 007 with seconds to spare, allowing Bond to escape.

In No Time To Die (2021), Felix, working with partner Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen), lures Bond out of retirement to track down MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik) who had worked on Project Heracles, a deadly DNA weapon that spreads like a virus. Bond captures Obruchev in Cuba and brings him to Leiter and Ash on a boat, demanding to know who the scientist was working for. 

When it becomes clear that Obruchev is working for Ash, the latter pulls out a gun and shoots Leiter in the stomach, blowing the vessel up with a limpet mine. As the boat floods with water, Bond tries to haul Felix to safety. “It’s a good life,” says Felix. “The best,” retorts Bond. As the water rises, Felix slips away from a distraught Bond.

Bond later avenges Leiter’s death, crushing Ash to death with an upturned vehicle — after an injured Ash implores him “Why don’t you help me out, brother?” Bond simply replies, “I had a brother. His name was Felix Leiter.”