Sam Mendes took the stage at Pinewood Studios this morning to announce that the title of the 24th movie in the James Bond franchise has a title, and that title is SPECTRE.
Fans of the James Bond franchise know the word “SPECTRE” well. It is the name of the global terrorist organization run by Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Bond’s arch-nemesis, who hasn’t been seen in the franchise since the Roger Moore era. SPECTRE stands for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Robotics and Extortion, a rather unwieldy acronym that may – if we were in the guessing business – need to be changed for the contemporary, realistic take on the James Bond franchise.
Sam Mendes also revealed James Bond’s new car is the Aston Martin DB10, which was designed by the filmmakers in conjunction with the car company, which has a decades-long history with the James Bond franchise. Let’s take a look…
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Rory Kinnear, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Ralph Fiennes will all return in SPECTRE. Andrew Scott, best known to many as Moriarty from the “Sherlock” TV series, will join the Whitehall crew, and as previously rumored, Dave Batista (Guardians of the Galaxy) will play a new villain named Hinx.
Other new cast members include Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Reloaded), who will join the ranks of the Bond Girls as “Lucia Sciarra.” Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour) has also joined the cast as “Madeleine Swann.”
And, as previously announced, two-time Academy Award-winner Christoph Waltz is joining the cast as well, although Mendes did not specify whether Waltz would be playing Bond’s arch nemesis Blofeld. UPDATE: It has been reported now that Waltz will play a character named “Oberhauser,” which could be an all-new character or – theoretically – could be an obfuscation to hide his identity as Blofeld.
That would be pure speculation, of course, but we all remember how real the name “John Harrison” turned out to be in the press release for Star Trek Into Darkness, so it seems prudent not to rule anything out.
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Tangiers, Mexico City, The Alps and London were all revealed to be locations for the globespanning SPECTRE, but details about the actual plot were frustratingly scarce. That being said, the title itself seems to be a rather big clue as to the direction of this new era in the James Bond franchise.
But the question is raises, however, is what has become of Quantum? The secret organization behind the events of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace was being teased as the modern incarnation of SPECTRE, in that it was a global threat with far-reaching plans that could menace 007 in several films to come. Will Quantum be folded into SPECTRE, or does the return of SPECTRE mean that Quantum will slink quietly into the shadows while the studio tries to pretend they never existed?
We’ll find out when the 24th film in the James Bond franchise hits theaters on November 6, 2015.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
