With Daniel Craig going out in literally explosive fashion in No Time to Die, the James Bond franchise is in limbo right now as we await the casting of the next 007, the seventh actor to take on the role of Ian Fleming’s super-spy. But, you know, at this point speculating over the next Bond is old hat, so fans are freshening up the conversation by turning their attentions to the mystery of whom the next Bond villain will be instead.
Redditor HopScotchyScotch got the (thunder)ball rolling by asking the folks of the r/movies sub to name their picks to play the bad guy of Bond 26. The OP themselves went for Christian Bale, who’s obviously fresh off playing a villainous character in Thor: Love and Thunder.
As another fan pointed out, the idea of Olivia Colman as a Bond villain at first seems like a joke but, dang, she would actually kill it.
Considering Jurassic icon Sam Neill screen-tested for Bond back in the day, this is a great shout.
Cate Blanchett as a Bond villain? Give it to us now!
Could producers coax Daniel Day-Lewis out of retirement to play James’ next nemesis?
Once one fan put it out there, many others also vouched for Michael Shannon as a strong pick.
Boy oh boy, would Anthony Starr be a good choice.
You can’t go wrong with Cillian Murphy.
Tom Hanks is another left-field contender who would be great.
But the best concept has to be… Idris Elba. The Luther star has essentially ruled himself out of the race at this point, but he could feature in the next film as the antagonist instead.
Despite the best efforts of Christoph Waltz and Rami Malek, we haven’t had a stone-cold classic Bond villain since Javier Bardem’s Silva in 2012’s Skyfall, so hopefully, Bond 26 will deliver us both a terrific new 007 and a formidable foe for them to face.