The franchise recycles people as readily as plots. Three patterns: fixtures who anchored the series for decades, actors quietly recast in entirely different roles, and the great handed-down parts.
The Dr. No cell carries an asterisk that has been in litigation twice: Monty Norman holds the credit for the James Bond Theme, John Barry arranged and recorded it — and the courts have sided with Norman.
Eon canon, Dr. No (1962) → No Time to Die (2021). Judgement calls abound at the margins; fictional coordinates are best guesses. Compiled July 2026.