Christoph Waltz Is Not Returning For James Bond 25

Back in August, confirmation finally came that Daniel Craig would return as James Bond from the actor himself. So now everyone is wondering what is in store for 007's next mission on the big screen. Sadly, for those who enjoyed a certain iconic villain from James Bond history being played by Christoph Waltz, we have some bad news.

During a red carpet interview, Spectre villain Christoph Waltz was directly asked if he would return for James Bond 25, and the actor gave a definitive and firm response in the negative. But his elaboration is what we're most intrigued by.

News of Christoph Waltz not in James Bond 25 came from the Italian movie news site Talky Movie:

For those who don't care to watch the video, when asked if he would return for the next sequel in the long-running franchise, Waltz said, "No, I'm sorry. I'm really sad, but that's the tradition, that there is a new...name. Sorry. I would've liked to." There are a few different ways that we could take his answer, so let's think about this for a minute.

First, the tradition that Waltz is referring to is in regards to the casting of Blofeld. When the villain first appeared (albeit partially) in From Russia with Love, he was portrayed by the uncredited Anthony Dawson and his voice was provided by Eric Pholmann, and the same was done with the villain's appearance in Thunderball.

You Only Live Twice was the first time the villain showed his face, and he was played by Donald Pleasance, who would go on to star in Halloween. After that, he was played by Telly Savalas in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, then Charles Gray in Diamonds Are Forever. Finally, the villain was used in the classic Bond films one more time, with John Hollis playing a wheelchair-bound version of the villain and Robert Rietty providing his voice in For Your Eyes Only.

Christoph Waltz is the most recent actor to play an iteration of the villain, and he makes it sound like that tradition of having a new actor playing Blofeld will continue with James Bond 25. That's an interesting decision for a franchise that has made James Bond more grounded than the spy has ever been before. But maybe Waltz meant something different.

When Waltz speaks of tradition, he could also be talking about the fact that there's usually a new villain brought into the fray with almost every new James Bond movie. Across the span of 24 movies featuring the secret agent, the only villains to appear multiple times are Blofeld, Jaws and Mr. White, the latter being from Daniel Craig's tenure as 007. But in all of the movies starring Daniel Craig, there has yet to be a primary villain recur, so if Christoph Waltz returned, it would have been a compelling evolution of the series.

Therefore, it could stand to reason that there won't be a new actor playing Blofeld in James Bond 25, but there will merely be a new villain altogether, making Waltz's return to the franchise unnecessary. Then again, there's one other possibility.

Leading up to the release of Spectre, rumors were rampant that Christoph Waltz was playing the iconic villain Blofeld. The Inglourious Basterds star denied the rumor multiple times, but as we all saw when Spectre finally hit theaters, Waltz was indeed playing the villain we'd seen James Bond face before. That means Waltz was lying the entire time he denied those rumors.

There is a distinct possibility that Waltz is lying this time, simply to keep up appearances and keep secrets from inquiring minds. That's not something I'm necessarily opposed to, especially if it allows for a cool surprise appearance of the villain in the next James Bond movie. But no matter what the outcome is, it does make us wonder what's in store for 007.

Ideally, it would be great if there was a new villain brought to the table, and we found out that somehow Blofeld was orchestrating another villainous plan, just as he had done several times before through the organization called Spectre. Then again, that's also a bit predictable, and maybe too hokey for this version of James Bond.

Either way, the good news is that we have at least one more round of James Bond featuring Daniel Craig, and hopefully it will make up for how disappointing Spectre turned out to be.