By Owen Williams | Posted 12 Jul 2019

Long rumoured and no great surprise given the ending of Spectre, it seems that Christoph Waltz might indeed appear in Bond 25 as Blofeld. Reliable Bond reporter Baz Bambigoye got the tip-off from a visitor at Pinewood Studios who spotted the erstwhile Hans Oberhauser on set. Waltz apparently winked, "You haven't seen me," but said visitor decided to risk the wrath of SPECTRE and leak the news anyway. The fluffy white cat is out of the bag.

Waltz, you'll recall, swore blind that he wasn't playing Blofeld during the entire run-up to Spectre. That film's story saw him operating under the Oberhauser moniker for most of the run-time. Bond's adoptive brother, seething with resentment at Bond's childhood encroachment in his family, only revealed himself to be Ian Fleming's arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld late in the film. Narratively the name would have meant nothing whatsoever to Daniel Craig's Bond, but it at least meant plenty to the audience, who've been familiar with it since the 1960s.

With Rami Malek already announced as the villain of Bond 25, it's not quite clear yet how Blofeld will fit into the latest story – and with no official confirmation of Waltz's role, his inclusion is still at the very-very-strong-rumour stage. If he is indeed back, at a guess we might predict a supporting role this time out, once again running his henchmen from the shadows (or custody) as he was, off-screen, in Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace and Skyfall. Alternatively, The Playlist's Rodrigo Perez suggests a Silence Of The Lambs scenario in which Léa Seydoux's Madelaine Swann plays Clarice Starling to Blofeld's Hannibal Lecter.

Cary Joji Fukunaga is the director of the still-untitled Bond 25, working from a screenplay by regular Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade and series newcomer Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Craig, Waltz, Seydoux and Malek are joined in the cast by Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, Ana De Armas, David Dencik, and Dali Benssalah. The globetrotting shoot will take in Norway, Jamaica and Italy as well as London and Pinewood Studios, and Bond 25 is currently scheduled for a 3 April 2020 release.