James Bond ‘Spectre’ Villain Blofeld Will Not Be Played By Christoph Waltz

In a recent interview with GQ, actor Christoph Waltz set the record straight on his highly anticipated turn in the next James Bond film, “Spectre.” Speculation had been swirling that the multi-lingual actor, noted for playing villains, would do so again in the long-running international spy series.

"That is absolutely untrue,” Waltz shot down quickly. “That rumour started on the Internet, and the Internet is a pest. The name of my character is Franz Oberhauser." Besides his distaste for the World Wide Web, Waltz’s insistence that his character is not Bond nemesis Blofeld indicates that he is playing a new character with no previous appearance in the Bond canon.

Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld is one of the most iconic villains created by author Ian Fleming. The mastermind enemy of MI6 appeared in six classic Eon Production movies, including “From Russia with Love,” “Thunderball,” and “Diamonds are Forever.” Mike Myers spoofed the evil genius in his “Austin Powers” series, and swapped out the villain’s fluffy cat for a hairless one, Mr. Bigglesworth.

Bringing back his evil organization, Spectre (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), means bringing back Blofeld -- and his silhouetted appearance in the trailer hints that the character will return. It’s possible, since Waltz is playing a new character in the series, that this could be Blofeld’s predecessor. This also makes sense since Daniel Craig’s iteration of James Bond is reportedly a prequel beginning with his first mission in 2006’s “Casino Royale.”

After a lengthy and busy career in Europe, director Quintin Tarantino plucked Christoph Waltz from near obscurity to play one of the Nazi villains in his 2009 film “Inglorious Basterds.” Since then, Waltz has gone on to a myriad of roles in movies like “Water for Elephants,” “Carnage,” “The Zero Theorem” and “Muppets Most Wanted.” Waltz has two other projects alongside “Spectre,” “Tulip Fever” and the “Tarzan” reboot.