8 Things We Learned From The Lost Adventures Of James Bond Book
5. The Bond Origin Story That Never Was
2006's Casino Royale is essentially all that you need to form a James Bond origin story, yet an origin film was being discussed years before Daniel Craig stepped into the shoes of 007. In fact, just such a movie was being planned 21 years before Craig's Bond charmed his way to the silver screen.
As explained by author Mark Edlitz in The Lost Adventures of James Bond:
The tale by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, if it had made it to the screen, would have served as the basis for Timothy Dalton’s debut as 007.In the treatment, Bond is recruited by Her Majesty’s Secret Service, nearly bungles his first mission, falls for a woman, gets brutally tortured, and eventually earns his Double-O status. While the plot shares some broad story elements with 2006’s Casino Royale, the particulars are vastly different.
This origin feature would have taken place in 1972 with a James Bond who was in his mid-late 20s. At the time, Bond would be a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy - and he'd soon find himself in the crosshairs on an Austrian diplomat after sleeping with someone he shouldn't have.
Fully diving into James' past, we would also get to see his aunt and grandfather in this origin tale, with Bond eventually offered the job that would come to define him as the world's greatest spy.