Rumour: SPECTRE's Christoph Waltz could return for two more Bond movies

SPOILER WARNING IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN SPECTRE YET!

NO, SERIOUSLY!

Let’s just call a superspy spade, a superspy spade: Spectre was disappointing. I’m not saying it’s a terrible movie – far from it, as it boasted a handful of the best sequences in modern James Bond history – but it certainly dropped the ball a few times. And the biggest ball drop (a phrase I’m desperately hoping doesn’t sound too dirty) concerns the plot twist reveal of Christoph Waltz as the modern reincarnation of supremo classic Bond villain Ernst Stavros Blofeld.

Except it wasn’t much of a plot twist as the movie did everything short of neon billboards and skywriting to telegraph this reveal, and then, to add insult to injury, did it in both the most boring and convoluted way possible (Ooh, it’s Bond’s step-brother we’ve never met before and don’t actually care about, back from the dead!). But director Sam Mendes and co clearly wanted Bond’s most famous villain back in their wheelhouse for what could potentially be star Daniel Craig’s last outing as 007, and irrespective of the actual narrative benefit of Blofeld’s resurrection they were going to do it.

And now they may just do it again. Twice, in fact. That’s according to a new rumour from UK publication Mirror.co.uk who are reporting that Waltz has signed for the still untitled Bond 25 and Bond 26. But there’s a major caveat: Waltz will only reprise his role as Blofeld if the producers can also get Daniel Craig back as well.

“Christoph could make a brilliant ongoing man for Bond to battle like in the old days,” a source told the Daily Star. “But the important clincher of it is that Blofeld can only work with Daniel back in the role to keep continuity.”

Before Spectre was released, the 47-year old Craig went on record to say that the rigours of the role had become too much for him and that he “would rather slash my wrists” than play James Bond again. Even Sam Mendes viewed Spectre as the closing of Craig’s era and gave him a proper send-off into the sunset, so to speak, at the end of the film. However Craig has since softened on his stance a bit, and gone from vehement extraction from the role, to just not being sure if he would return.

Irrespective of Spectre‘s filmmaking foibles, the movie has still made $864 million globally which is nothing to sniff at, and Craig is an immensely popular Bond with the general public, so the producers will sure look to keep him around for as long as possible. Producer Michael G Wilson has even stated optimistically that “We think we’ve got him but we don’t have a contract.”

So if Craig does actually return, do I really want to see Blofeld come back with him? That’s a difficult question to answer. The idea of the incredible Christoph Waltz playing such an iconic movie villain is still one that excites me, especially since we never really got to see him go full on Bond-villain until nearly the end of the film. However, I have changed in my initial opinion of whether we actually need Blofeld back in this rebooted series. He really adds nothing new to it, other than being pandering to long-time fans of the classic series like me. I could still be fine with a once-off appearance, but three showings is really pushing it and hinting strongly at the lack of cohesive thematic direction in the franchise that my colleague James has criticized in the past.

So what do you guys think? Do you want Waltz’s Blofeld back? Hell, do you even want Craig back as 007? Sound off below.

Last Updated: January 6, 2016