While his run as James Bond ended with License to Kill, Timothy Dalton was originally set to do a different version of Bond 17 until it was hit by production troubles. Instead, there was a six-year gap between films and Dalton left, leaving Pierce Brosnan to take over as the iconic spy for GoldenEye.
Pre-production on Bond 17 (rumored to have the title Property of a Lady) started in May 1990, and would have been much different than GoldenEye ended up being. While GoldenEye was about the fall of the Soviet Union, which happened in 1991, Property of a Lady would have been set in Hong Kong, focused on a plan by a businessman to get Britain to withdraw from Hong Kong, potentially sparking World War III.
Timothy Dalton was originally set to come back as Bond until production issues caused the original Bond 17 to get repeatedly delayed and later canceled. The disappointing box office returns of License to Kill led long-time producer Albert Broccoli, who had been involved with the series since 1959 as a founder of Eon Productions, to doubt whether he was still a good leader for the company. This caused a series of dominos to fall that held up the production of the next movie past the expiration of Dalton’s contract.
Broccoli put Danjaq, the company that held the copyrights on the Bond films, up for sale. At the same time, MGM/UA (who distributed the films) was looking to be bought. After a deal with an Australian financial services company fell apart, they were bought by French film company Pathe Entertainment. To help finance the buyout, Pathe sold off international rights to the Bond films at far less than market value and without giving Danjaq a share of the profits. Danjaq sued, MGM-Pathe Communications sued back, and the lawsuits were finally resolved in December 1992. MGM-Pathe went bankrupt, came back as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and started production of Bond 17 in early 1993.
There was just one small issue: Timothy Dalton’s contract expired in 1993. He’d been sour on film since early on, saying back in 1990 that he expected the lawsuits could have been the end not just of his time as Bond, but the franchise in general. In conversations with Barbara Broccoli after she took over as producer from her father (a role she still has today), Dalton actually showed excitement about coming back to the Bond franchise; however, they wanted him to come back for more than just one movie. Between the long gap between movies and being reticent about returning for “four or five” Bond films, Dalton decided he couldn’t commit and officially stepped down as Bond in April 1994.
While Dalton’s version of Bond 17 never happened, GoldenEye ended up rejuvenating the James Bond franchise. It was a box office success, inspired a beloved N64 video game, and started Pierce Brosnan’s four-film run as James Bond. While it’s fascinating to think about what might have been, the franchise went in a much better direction than expected after Dalton left.