Those of you who were quick to lament that the return of SPECTRE might mean the continuing abandonment of Quantum can now take heart. He was missing from Thursday's official unveiling of the 24th Bond movie, but Jesper Christensen has confirmed that he will be returning to the role of Mr. White in the new film.
Mr White was the liaison for the mysterious criminal organisation Quantum in both Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace. Last we saw of him, he was having his enjoyment of Tosca interrupted.
After that, the rest was silence, and there was nary a mention of Quantum or White in Skyfall. But, says Christensen now, "I am looking forward to working with Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig. It is a truly exciting script and a very capable team. So it'll be fun..." Let the speculation of how Quantum and SPECTRE are connected begin.
Like Goldfinger, Skyfall seems to be taking its place as a standalone adventure in the middle of an ongoing narrative, making SPECTRE the rebooted series' Thunderball. Or something. Will we find ourselves in a volcano base come Bond 25? We're going with no.
SPECTRE, as you know already and we told you yesterday, stars Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Andrew Scott, Monica Belluci, Dave Bautista and Lea Seydoux. The script was written by John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade; Interstellar's Hoyte van Hoytema is the DP; and Sam Mendes is directing.
Shooting starts on Monday and will take in Pinewood, London, Mexico City, Rome, and Tangier and Erfoud in Morocco. The film arrives, with Mr. White in its boot, on October 23 next year.