Even though James Garner had left the series, he, Jack Kelly, Sir Roger Moore, and their wives regularly got together for what they called "poker school" at the Kelly home on Sunset Boulevard.
On April 21, 2006, a ten foot tall statue of James Garner as Bret Maverick was unveiled in Garner's hometown of Norman, Oklahoma. Garner was on hand for the festivities.
In 1960, James Garner sued the "Warner Brothers" studio for breach of contract, arising from his suspension during the writers' strike of that year. "Warners" claimed that there were no scripts available during the strike and were, therefore, justified in suspending Garner without pay. However, it was learned during court testimony that the studio had secretly obtained approximately one hundred television scripts during the strike. Eventually, the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled in favor of Garner, and he was released from his contract with the series.
James Garner claimed that during filming one day, they had less than an hour until overtime would have to be paid, but they still needed to shoot a complicated fight scene. Spying a group of tall weeds, he suggested that he throw his opponent into the weeds and have the fight proceed with much shaking of the weeds, and people being ejected from the weeds, only to immediately run back in. The results were extremely funny, and thus the cast and crew began to look for "funny" ways to cut corners, turning the show into a semi-comedy.
Sir Roger Moore left the series over what he felt was a decline in script quality. Moore said that if the scripts would have been like the Garner scripts from the earlier seasons, he would have been glad to stay.