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
Motifs in the James Bond film series be a "wink at the audience", with the suggestion that the violence was all a joke. This was shown in "Live and Let Die" when he threw the villain, Tee Hee, out of a train, removing his prosthetic arm in the process, Moore commented that he was "Just being disarming, darling". When Timothy Dalton took the role, the humour was downplayed, bringing the character more in line with that of the novels. The humour returned for the Brosnan films, with Bond admitting between kisses that he "always enjoyed studying a new tongue". Similarly, Moneypenny called Bond a "cunning linguist" after