Fans have only just recovered from the twists and turns about whether Craig himself would actually reprise his role as the secret agent.
After almost two years of denials and drama the actor finally only just admitted he will be back one last time.
His swan song as OO7 is expected to be a remake of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. If nothing else, this will serve as a way to dispose of the rather unexpected (and not entirely convincing) relationship with Madeleien Swann.
However the latest shock news throws all of this into doubt.
From the rather lacklustre open-ended finale to SPECTRE, it was fully expected that Christoph Waltz would be back as Blofeld.
Suddenly the actor has announced that he will not be playing the loafer-wearing villain.
The star told Italian channel Talky Movie: “No, I’m sorry. I’m really sad, but that’s the tradition, that there is a new (actor)… Sorry. I would’ve liked to.”
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Waltz is referring to the fact that Blofeld was already previously played by two other actors. Telly Savalas played a bombastic SPECTRE boss in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, while Donald Pleasance was rather more saturnine in You Only Live Twice.
This certainly gives a precedent for the move, but each of the three stars so far has played opposite a different Bond.
Surely, it would be rather silly to have Craig on screen with an entirely different person playing his nemesis?
Unless there is going to be some kind of plastic surgery Face/Off remodel it’s hard to see how Blofeld can now feature in Bond 25.
Since he is the main villain in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, this also throws into doubt the reports that Craig’s final outing will be based on Ian Fleming’s 1963 novel and the 1969 big screen adaptation.