Pierce Brosnan was offered the role of James Bond, but the publicity improved "Remington Steele"s ratings and it was renewed, requiring Brosnan to contractually return to the show, this caused Eon Productions to have to look elsewhere for the new 007. The producers instead hired Timothy Dalton for "The Living Daylights" (1987), and "Licence to Kill" (1989). While Brosnan was reluctant to discuss losing the Bond role, in part because Dalton was a friend, he appeared in Diet Coke commercials portraying what the "Los Angeles Times" described as "a dashing Bond-like character", and NBC advertised "Noble House" with Brosnan dressed in a
Timothy Dalton the approach occurred when he was either 24 or 25 and had already done the film "Mary, Queen of Scots" (1971). Dalton told the producers that he was too young for the role. In a 1987 interview, Dalton said, "Originally I did not want to take over from Sean Connery. He was far too good, he was wonderful. I was about 24 or 25, which is too young. But when you've seen Bond from the beginning, you don't take over from Sean Connery." In either 1979 or 1980, he was approached again, but did not favour the direction the films