A couple weeks ago it was reported that Christoph Waltz was going to play the villain in Sam Mendes' Bond 24. It wasn't announced who exactly he would play, but today we have word that he will take on the role of none other than James Bond nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld!
Rumors of the character were sparked last year after MGM settled a lawsuit with writer Kevin McClory regarding the rights to the Blofeld character and the infamous SPECTRE organization. Now it looks there was a reason they made the settlement. When Bond 24 writer, John Logan, was asked about the character in a previous interview all he said was:
"You know, I think our villain's appropriate to the story we're telling."
Blofeld has been a part of six of the previous James Bond films that have been made. Sometimes his face is shown, other times we just hear his voice. He's an iconic villain in the series who made his last appearance in 1981's For Your Eyes Only. It makes sense that he would eventually show up in the latest iteration of the franchise. Waltz is going to be amazing in the role! I'm so excited to hear that this is the villain that he'll be playing.
Production is expected to begin on the sequel next month, and it will be released on November 6th, 2015. Waltz joins Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, and Dave Bautista.