Now here’s a bit of casting speculation we can get behind: Chiwetel Ejiofor is the rumored frontrunner for Sam Mendes’ main James Bond villain in the 24th installment of the iconic cinematic series. Call us corny if you must, but this news has us all shaken (not stirred) up, in the best way. With Ejiofor’s chops saddled up alongside the already-confirmed returning cast — Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Ben Whishaw as James Bond, M, Moneypenny, and Q, respectively — we can only imagine what sort of mysterious action-laced intrigue is in store for audiences.
Though nowhere near official, The Wrap reports that Ejiofor — you most likely know him for his work as Solomon Nothrup in the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave — is the clear frontrunner, with barely more than scheduling in the way of a solidified Craig v. Ejiofor match-up. The role would find Ejiofor in some fairly esteemed company — 2012’s Skyfall found a baddie in the brilliant Javier Bardem. And though there are reportedly a few other actors up for consideration, we’d be lying if we said the idea of Ejiofor in a Bond film made us very, very happy. We’ve certainly got time to wait, though: the film isn’t expected to begin production until November.
What do you think of the idea of Chiwetel Ejiofor as a Bond villain? Let us know in the comments!
Chiwetel Ejiofor should be the next bond.
If this happens, it would put two damn good actors against each other in an epic film series for the ages. I would pay to see this happen in a movie theatre.
Bond shouldn’t be super serious, he’s a terrible spy that wants to get laid the whole time and tells everyone his real name have fun with it. This one will probably be super serious though.
Him or Tilda Swinton as the next Bond villain. I’d prefer that this next isn’t as mopey as the other Craig ones and has a better story than I’ll upload this to Youtube.
… wait. *Nerdist* of all blogs is saying we might know him best from an Oscar-winning movie, instead of THE GORRAM OPERATIVE in Serenity?!
He might be good enough to off set my hatred of Craig.
I don’t care who the next villain is, I just want the next bond movie to have James bond in it. I don’t blame Daniel Craig, I blame the writers but he is not James Bond.
Ummmm… “we’d be lying if we said the idea of Ejiofor in a Bond film made us very, very happy”? So you DON’T want him in the role? LOL
Right, because times haven’t changed and nostalgia is reality.
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Bring back the original James Bond style, the spy who would shoot someone with a speargun then say ‘I think he got the point!’ rather than this new version who would fill out an accident report.