Christoph Waltz, Telly Savalas, Max von Sydow, and Donald Pleasance walk into a bar. It’s not the setup for some conceptual joke; instead, it’s a reunion of all the actors who have played James Bond’s nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld on the big screen.
If you savored the experience of watching Waltz enunciate every syllable in the name “Ernst Stavro Blofeld” in 2015’s Skyfall, you’re in luck: he’ll return as Blofeld in the 25th film featuring the international secret agent, played by Daniel Craig, fighting evildoers in scenic locations.
Joining Waltz and Craig are a fantastic cast, including Rami Malek, Billy Magnussen, Jeffrey Wright, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear. Cary Joji Fukunaga — who previously worked with Magnussen on the Netflix show Maniac — will direct. Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Killing Eve) worked on the film’s screenplay.
One other notable casting decision: Lashana Lynch, previously seen onscreen playing Carol Danvers’s friend and colleague Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel, will be playing 007 in the film. The implications of this for Bond’s career in espionage when the film opens are substantial: one would assume that if Lynch’s character is now 007, James Bond is not. Lynch had a steely demeanor in her role as a fighter pilot in Captain Marvel — an excellent skill set for playing a globetrotting superspy.
Filmgoers will get a chance to see how this cast works together when the film opens next year: the 25th installment of James Bond’s adventures is scheduled for an April 2020 release.
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