The trailer reveals him in shadow, sitting at a table beneath which he could conceivably be stroking a white cat. He is the sinister new bad guy in a film called Spectre, which reintroduces the Special Executive For Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge And Extortion into the James Bond franchise. There has, understandably, been much speculation that Christoph Waltz will be revealed to be a certain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in this year's 24th Bond movie. But Waltz is categorically insisting that this isn't so.
"That is absolutely untrue," Waltz told GQ. "That rumour started on the internet, and the internet is a pest. The name of my character is Franz Oberhauser."
Attentive readers may recall that Naomie Harris similarly told Empire flat-out pre-Skyfall that she wasn't playing Miss Moneypenny. You may also cast your minds back to the time Benedict Cumberbatch absolutely was not playing Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness... until he was. So make of this what you will.
But if Waltz genuinely isn't joining the pantheon that currently includes Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas, Charles Gray and an unofficial Max von Sydow (plus, anonymously Anthony Dawson and John Hollis), it certainly leaves interesting possibilities for Bond 25.
Elsewhere in Spectre news, Daniel Craig has finally stopped grinning and bearing the knee injury he sustained in February, and has taken advantage of a scheduled production break to have some arthroscopic surgery. He'll be back at work on April 22, so there should be no need for Roger Moore to step in after all.
Sorry to hear Daniel Craig has sprained his knee on set [#Spectre](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spectre?src=hash). Being 007 is not without its hazards. I'm available to step in if needed. > > — Sir Roger Moore (@sirrogermoore) [February 6, 2015](https://twitter.com/sirrogermoore/status/563700572352970752)
Ahhh good news: Daniel will be back on set tomorrow. I'm hanging my safari suit back in the wardrobe. 😉 > > — Sir Roger Moore (@sirrogermoore) [February 6, 2015](https://twitter.com/sirrogermoore/status/563706099770347520)
With Sam Mendes back directing a script that has been written by John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, Spectre sees Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris, as M, Q and Moneypenny respectively, with new recruits Waltz, Dave Bautista as Mr. Hinx, Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra, Lea Seydoux as Madeline Swann, Stephanie Sigman as Estrella and Andrew Scott as Denbigh. It’ll hit UK screens on October 23 before heading to the States and elsewhere on November 6.