James Bond is banned from having a dog.
The suave spy was created by the late Ian Fleming - who died in 1964 aged 56 - and his family have creative control over all books written in the franchise, including new characters, so have blocked attempts to give 007 a pet because the author "hated" canines.
Charlie Higson, who has written five Young Bond books, told the My Mate Bought a Toaster podcast: "In my first book I gave Bond a dog.
"I thought to myself, ‘He’s on an adventure, he should have a dog.'
"And they said no, Ian hated dogs. So I had to shoot the dog."
But ultimately, Charlie was relieved to drop the canine companion.
He said: "The dog didn't make it into the book, which is good actually because I didn't have a lot for the dog to do. There were only so many clues you could dig up with your paws."
Meanwhile, on the big screen, Callum Turner, Harris Dickinson, and Jacob Elordi have all been tipped to take over the role of Bond from Daniel Craig, but a former casting director for the franchise recently insisted they are too well known.
Debbie McWilliams - who worked on the franchise for over 40 years and was responsible for the casting of Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig - doesn't think they are right for the part because it is "absolutely essential" that whoever gets the job is a "total enigma" with a very private personal life.
Debbie told The Independent: “I don’t want to see any of them as James Bond.
“It is absolutely essential that [Bond] retains a total enigma.
"I don’t want to see any of them as Bond because we now know so much about them. We want to know as little about them personally as possible, because that’s what spies are.
"We don’t need to know where he goes shopping or who his parents are, or where he lives. We never want to see him at home.
"And a vital element of the whole thing is his job description. He’s licensed to kill, and we have to believe that he can do that. If you don’t, then you’ve lost the audience.”
Debbie insisted it "helps enormously" to cast a relatively unknown Bond.
She added: “Timothy and Pierce weren’t particularly well known. Daniel had had a career in independent films and a fairly colourful romantic life beforehand, but he wasn’t a household name, and that helps enormously. I want to see somebody who is completely out of the blue.”
And despite calls for a female Bond, Debbie insisted the role should be played by a man because "it’s how Ian Fleming wrote it".
She added: “Why would you want to change that? They haven’t changed Harry Potter to Alice Potter or to a different ethnicity. That’s how it was written and that’s how it should remain, I believe.”
