Will Christoph Waltz Return For Future Bond Movies? Here's His Answer

WARNING: The following article contains massive spoilers for director Sam Mendes’s Spectre. If you haven’t had a chance to see the film yet, we recommend clicking away to another one of our awesome stories on the site.

Daniel Craig’s James Bond may have a license to kill, but it was not a power that he utilized in the final moments of Spectre. Though he could have easily put a bullet in the brain of Christoph Waltz’s Franz Oberhauser (a.k.a. Ernst Stavro Blofeld) – 007’s adopted brother and orchestrator of "all his pain" – he decided to spare his life. Of course, one thing that comes from letting the villain live is the potential to have him featured in a sequel – so a big question arises: would Waltz be willing to reprise the role? If the story is right, it looks like the answer could be yes.

Before Spectre arrived in domestic theaters this past weekend, I had the chance to sit down with Christoph Waltz during a special press day in Mexico City, Mexico, and it was at the end of the interview that I asked him about potentially coming back as Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Because the James Bond movies aren’t really plotted out in advance, Waltz couldn’t speak to anything specifically, but he did explain what the ultimate deciding factor is:

It depends on the story. We don’t need to jump ahead. Let’s round this one off first, and let’s see if that makes sense! It needs to make sense. If it doesn’t, you get what we see mostly.

You can watch Christoph Waltz talk about a possible return to the James Bond world in the video below:

While the very ending of Spectre has left audiences to wonder how exactly the Daniel Craig chapter of the franchise will continue after this point, if it does, I wouldn’t mind seeing the return of Blofeld – able to go from being a prisoner back to his position as chief puppet master of terror. The latest movie made such a big effort setting him up, and then sparing him at the end, that not bringing him back would seem kind of silly.

Would you want to see Christoph Waltz return as Blofeld in the inevitable Bond 25? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.