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
Q (James Bond) a man (played by Alec McCowen) referred to by Bond as Algernon and Algy, though his opening line is "Nice to know old Q can still surprise you 00s". In the closing credits, he is named as "Q Algy". Q Branch itself is depicted as underfunded and ramshackle compared to the high-tech surroundings of the Eon films. Featured in Q (James Bond) Q is a fictional character in the James Bond films and film novelisations. Q (standing for Quartermaster as well as a reference to the deceptive Q-ships) is a job title, unlike M, which is a cypher for the