Michelle Yeoh was supposed to return as Wai Lin for Die Another Day, but here's why she didn't ultimately appear. The Pierce Brosnan era of James Bond is a divisive one among fans of the series. On one hand, GoldenEye brought the series back after a six-year absence and proved 007 could still work in the 1990s. On the other, the Brosnan movies often felt stuck between eras, aiming for the campy humor of the Moore era while also trying to act as slick, modern blockbusters.
Brosnan himself was always a highlight in these James Bond movies regardless of their quality, and always gamely delivered even the cringest one-liner. Easily the most underrated of his run was 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies, his second 007 adventure. This saw him take on a demented media mogul who aimed to start a war for ratings and it featured some great action, while its commentary on "fake news" and media manipulation was way ahead of its time. Tomorrow Never Dies also featured one of the franchise's best Bond ladies in Michelle Yeoh's Wai Lin.
Wai Lin is a Chinese agent who teams with Bond to take down Tomorrow Never Dies villain Carver, and Yeoh made for an even more credible action hero than Brosnan. While there was talk of Wai Lin receiving a spinoff or returning in another Bond adventure, that didn't come to . That wasn't always the case as early drafts of Brosnan's final (and worst) outing Die Another Day featured Wai Lin in a prominent ing role.
In the final version of Die Another Day, Bond escapes from MI6 in Hong Kong and s a Chinese intelligence agent he knows at a local hotel. In one draft, this character was to be Wai Lin, who helps Bond out in an elevator fight and brings him back to secret intelligence briefing. Since the Chinese are also seeking Die Another Day henchman Zeo but can't follow him to Cuba, Wai Lin gives Bond a forged port and a gun to go after him instead.
It sounds like Michelle Yeoh's Die Another Day role would have been a ten-minute cameo, though it still would have been great to see Wai Lin return. According to the website James Bond film Die Another Day to star in the movie The Touch instead, which she also produced. Considering Die Another Day is often considered the nadir of the James Bond franchise, maybe it was for the best Michelle Yeoh ed on a return.
