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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Timothy Dalton’s two-film run as James Bond ended because a planned third movie was derailed by a legal dispute between Eon Productions and MGM. Years later, when the series was ready to resume, Dalton was open to making one more film—but declined after producer Albert R. Broccoli said the return would require a commitment to four or five movies.
Dalton’s Bond films—and the stalled third movie
Dalton played Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989), the first and last entries in his Bond run, as listed by the official James Bond site.
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A third Dalton film was moving toward production in 1990. Recalling that period in a 2015 interview with The Week, Dalton said the production had a script and was interviewing directors: “We had the script. They were interviewing directors. We were really rolling forward, ready to start. It was actually quite a good story, I thought.”
Dalton said a legal dispute between Eon Productions and MGM then put the film on indefinite hold and released him from his contract. His account comes from the retrospective interview, rather than a contemporaneous contract or production document.
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Why Dalton did not return when Bond resumed
After the dispute was resolved, Dalton initially told Broccoli he did not think he would continue. Several years later, he reconsidered and said he would have liked to make one more film, combining what he regarded as the best elements of his first two performances.
But Broccoli told him that, after a five-year gap, the series could not return for just one movie: Dalton would need to plan for four or five. Dalton felt that was too long a commitment and declined. As he recalled it: “And I thought, oh, no, that would be the rest of my life. Too much. Too long. So I respectfully declined.”
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The two parts of the explanation are distinct: the Eon–MGM dispute stopped the third film from moving ahead; Dalton’s decision not to commit to several more films kept him from returning later. GoldenEye, with Pierce Brosnan as Bond, reached theaters in 1995.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Was Dalton fired, or did he leave because he feared typecasting?
Dalton’s account does not describe him as simply being fired. He said the legal delay freed him from his contract, and later he declined the longer commitment proposed when the franchise was ready to continue.
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He did say that, when he first accepted the role, he worried about stagnating by playing the same character. But he explicitly separated that concern from his departure: “But it wasn’t why I left.” He also criticized the late delivery of the Licence to Kill script, saying he saw it about two weeks before shooting began. That is production context, not the central reason he gave for leaving.
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