Brosnan was signed to do Bond in 1986. At the very least, he was the leading choice of Broccoli and company. The interest swirling around Brosnan as Bond caused NBC to hold onto Brosnan and his Remington Steele show, a show they had cancelled, but still had a 60 day renewal option on. The script sat on his nightstand for weeks, undread, until Brosnan was sure he was free to do Bond.

Then on the 59th day of a 60 day renewal window, NBC brought back Remington Steele. Yet it wasn`t totally over with. EON was willing to alter its schedule by 6 weeks to allow Brosnan to do both `Steele` and Bond, but finally Cubby Broccoli got tired of NBC`s hardball tactics and decided there was no reason to spend any more time and money pursuing Brosnan when people could see him on television for free. Brosnan of course got the role 8 years later.