All the biggest bits from the Bond novels that haven’t made it to the screen

Even after 25 films, some of Ian Fleming’s ideas have never been used.

By Patrick Cremona

Published: Friday, 07 April 2023 at 12:00 am

Given there have now been 25 official films in the James Bond franchise, you’d be forgiven for thinking that just about everything that featured in Ian Fleming’s source novels had now made it to the big screen in one form or another.

But although Fleming wrote only 14 Bond books (12 novels and two collections of short stories), many of the biggest and most outlandish elements from the texts have still not been included in any of the movies.

While in some cases this is undoubtedly for the best – for example, the shocking instances of racism in a number of the novels – there are some other story details from Fleming’s work that would make for interesting additions to the Bond film canon.

Read on for some of our picks of the biggest – and weirdest – bits from the Bond novels that haven’t made it to screen.

Bond fights a giant squid in Dr No

Bond has faced all sorts of adversaries across the 25 films – and has even come face to face with a number of aquatic animals, notably including sharks and crocodiles. But up to this point he hasn’t yet done battle with a giant squid, as is the case in the book of Dr No.

The incident occurs toward the end of Fleming’s novel – which was the sixth in the series to be published – and comes after the titular villain forces 007 to complete an obstacle course that also sees him suffer electric shock burns, and face an encounter with some large, venomous spiders. It all culminates in a battle with the giant squid – which Bond is able to overcome through the use of some improvised weapons.

Dr No dies by being buried alive in bat poo

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Joseph Wiseman as Dr. No
United Artists/Getty Images

Speaking of Dr No, the villain himself suffers rather an unfortunate death in the novel – one which hasn’t awaited any of the antagonists that have come face to face with Bond on the silver screen so far.

After 007 escapes the aforementioned obstacle course, he commandeers a guano-loading machine and diverts it so that the baddie is buried alive in the fertiliser – which is made from bat excrement!

Goldfinger’s getaway from Fort Knox

In the classic 1964 film, Auric Goldfinger realises that actually stealing all the gold reserves from Fort Knox would be an impossible feat, and so instead decides to irradiate it by using a dirty bomb – which will then ensure the value of his own gold soars.

His scheme in the corresponding novel is far simpler – he just steals all the gold and makes a speedy getaway. Of course, he still meets a sticky end and is later strangled by Bond after his trusty accomplice Oddjob is thrown out of a plane (the fate that awaits Goldfinger himself in the film).

Bond has a son in You Only Live Twice

The most recent film No Time to Die famously gave Bond a daughter for the first time in the history of the movie series – but it’s technically not the only time 007 has been a father if we take the books into account.

In You Only Live Twice, Bond fathers a son named James Suzuki after he suffers from a bout of amnesia, but before the child is even born he abandons its mother Kissy so he can travel to Russia in a bid to rediscover his identity.

Bond gets brainwashed by the Soviet Union and tries to kill M

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George Lazenby as Bond with Bernard Lee as M in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
United Artist/Getty Images

Bond and M have certainly had their disagreements in the films – but in the novel of The Man with the Golden Gun, 007 goes one step further and even tries to kill his superior, albeit after he has been brainwashed by the Soviet Union.

This incident follows directly from the episode of amnesia described above, with Bond arriving in the Soviet Union and quickly falling under the influence of his enemies. Thankfully Bond is unsuccessful in his assassination attempt – and is soon deprogrammed.

Bond is held at gunpoint while playing at a casino

Few Bond fans would argue that Casino Royale is one of the most tense films in the Bond canon, but there’s one sequence in the novel which is arguably even more dramatic than anything that happens in the film.

In the novel, one key scene sees Bond covertly held at gunpoint while playing at a casino –  with 007 having to somehow find a way out of it. Talk about high stakes!

The entire plots of some novels

While all of the novels have been loosely adapted for the big screen in one way or another, many of the films actually have very little to do with the books they’re supposed to be based on – with Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me being two of the most egregious examples.

And so there’s still plenty of source material for the writers to lean on when crafting Bond 26 and other future films…