“I think “Never say never again” was a remake of Thunderball.”
I believe the villain in Never Say Never was the son of the villain in Thunderball.
Largo was supposed to be the same character, just a rewrite of the same script. The remake was a bit more fun than the first. It also had the hands-down best female villainess in the entire franchise, Fatima Blush. Barbara Carrera has no equal.
The same one actually. You could think of it as alternate universe.
Kevin McClory rather than Ian Fleming was awarded the movie rights to Thunderball.
McClory did come to a deal with Broccoli and Salzman to make Thunderball (1965). McClory pushed the envelope even further, claiming that SPECTRE and Blofeld were his ideas too.
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) was going to feature a return of SPECTRE and Blofeld but due to McClory the lead villain was renamed Stromberg.
Then the teaser of For Your Eyes Only (1981) presumably kills off Blofeld, only to be revived by McClory in Never Say Never Again (1983). No reference is made to the Broccoli/Salzman (sp?) movie.
McClory later tried to remake it yet again with Timothy Dalton - Working titles were Warhead 2000, Warhead 2001, and maybe even Warhead 1999 -those never came to fruition.
McClory eventually died - I thought his heirs sold the rights to the Broccoli/Wilson production company and that
Never Say Never Again would be considered canon. Maybe not exactly.