The story of Never Say Again begins in the early 1960s, when producer Kevin McClory became involved in an effort to adapt Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Thunderball into a film. This eventually led to a legal battle over the rights to the Bond character, which was not resolved until after Fleming's death in 1964. McClory then secured the screen rights to Thunderball and began developing it as a independent production.
After a number of delays, Never Say Again was finally released in 1983, starring Sean Connery as James Bond. The film was generally well-received by audiences and critics, but it was a box office disappointment compared to the previous Bond films. There have been various theories proposed as to why this happened, including McClory's decision to make the film without any involvement from Eon Productions (the company behind the official Bond films) or United Artists (the studio that had distributed all of the previous Bond movies). It's also possible that audiences simply weren't ready for another James Bond movie so soon after Roger Moore had taken over the role in Live and Let Die (1973).