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.
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.
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.
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.
Producer Roy Huggins stated the writers' guiding principle for the "Maverick" series was his belief that, "In the traditional Western, the situation was always serious, but never hopeless. In a "Maverick" story, the situation is always hopeless, but never serious."