Christoph Waltz Rumored to Return for Bond 25

It’s a question that many James Bond fans have been asking themselves since 2015’s Spectre hit theaters: what exactly happened to Blofeld. Sure, we saw the architect of all of Bond’s suffering crawling from the wreckage of his helicopter that crashed on Westminster Bridge, with Bond leaving the villain to be arrested by M. but what after that? If it’s a question that you’ve been asking yourself, it seems like the upcoming Bond 25 may just provide an answer. Blofeld actor Christoph Waltz has reportedly been seen on set and is rumored to return.

According to a recent report from the Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye on Twitter, visitors the Bond sets at Pinewood Studios in the U.K. spotted Waltz, who told them “You haven’t seen me.”

Sounds like he might’ve wanted to borrow from Star Wars and try a Jedi handwave on this one because news has definitely gotten out about his appearance on set, but this isn’t the first rumor about Waltz’ return to Bond. Fans have been expecting for some time that Waltz’s villain would return, something that would make a lot of sense given the significance of the character. While the character has a long history in the Bond film franchise, his story got a bit of a new background in Spectre with the character actually being Bond’s (Daniel Craig) adoptive brother of sorts. Blofeld, born Franz Oberhauser, murdered his own father, staged his own death, took on the Ernst Stavro Blofeld identity, and then created the criminal organization SPECTRE, working for years to destroy Bond who he resented for being their father’s favorite. That kind of dedication to destroying one’s rival doesn’t exactly go down as easily as a helicopter crash and subsequent arrest.

Of course, while it makes sense for Blofeld to return, especially with Bond 25 set to be Craig’s last outing as the iconic super spy, Waltz’s return hasn’t officially been confirmed. In fact, there’s not a lot known about Bond 25 at this point, including the film’s official title. Late in June a potential title, A Reason to Die, was leaked on Twitter, but that hasn’t been confirmed either. What is known is the extraordinary challenges that film has faced in production — including an ankle injury that sidelined Craig for a few weeks — and the film’s vague official description, which you can check out below.

“Bond has left active service. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.”

Bond 25 is currently set to arrive in theaters on April 8, 2020.