When Daniel Craig was blown to smithereens at the end of 2021’s No Time To Die, it marked not just the first time the character’s demise was shown, it also marked the one time a Bond actor had the opportunity to craft his own exit.
His predecessors had very different experiences…
Sean Connery says never again… again and again
By the mid-sixties, Sean Connery was losing interest in the role that made him a star. His relationship with the producers had deteriorated - Connery felt like he was not receiving the financial compensation he deserved, while the producers seemed to be raking in profits.
The final straw was the intense publicity during location filming in Japan for You Only Live Twice - including an incident in which photographers followed him into the bathroom.
Believing the character was more important than the actor, the producers let him out of his six film contract and moved on with one-time Bond Lazenby.
Following Lazenby’s departure, Connery was lured back by a 1.125m pound fee for 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever. Despite a rumoured 5m pound offer to return again, Connery declared it a one-time deal - he would never return to the role of Bond again…
Until he did in 1983’s unofficial Never Say Never Again, whereupon he again declared this was the end of the road (unless you count 1996’s The Rock).
George Lazenby
The youngest person to ever play Bond, Lazenby felt that Bond was past its used-by date in the Age of Aquarius. He walked away from a seven film contract (which could have seen him into the early 80s) to make his own franchise with Universal Soldier (nope, not that one).
Roger Moore
After his original contract ran out in the late seventies, Roger Moore made repeated statements that he was retiring from Bondage.
During the making of For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy, Moore stated that this was definitely going to be his final film.
Aside from Moore, other factors helped extend his tenure - an unimpressive list of potential successors and the threat of a rival Bond production headlined by Sean Connery made Moore a reliable set of hands.
When Moore finally did hang up the Walther after A View To A Kill, it was reportedly because he discovered that he was older than his leading lady’s mother.
I have nothing to back this up but pure gut, but I wonder if the reason why Craig’s death was so explicit in No Time To Die was to avoid repeating Moore’s example.
Timothy Dalton
Following the release of Licence to Kill, Dalton sounded dour about whether the franchise would continue, but remained onboard until the earliest stages of GoldenEye, seeing it as an opportunity to end his run on a high note. However when he learned producer Cubby Broccoli would want him around for multiple installments, he amicably bowed out.
Pierce Brosnan
A lifelong Bond fan, Brosnan first came on the producers’ radar during the making of For Your Eyes Only, in which his wife Cassandra Harris had a supporting role.
After winning and losing the role in 1986 due to last-minute conflicts with his contract for TV series Remington Steele, Brosnan got a second chance in 1995, bringing the franchise back from the dead after a 6 year absence.
By the mid-noughts however, the combination of the Austin Powers franchise, the arrival of a more contemporary spy in Jason Bourne and real world events (the September 11 attacks) had rendered his Bond obsolete.
Brosnan was ready to go for a fifth instalment, but eventually the producers made the decision to break with the established template and Brosnan had to give up the role.