Yesterday’s announcement that the 24th James Bond movie would be named SPECTRE had the internet all atwitter, since even though the plot was not revealed, the title alone was a pretty big hint. The criminal organization “SPECTRE,” an acronym which stands for “SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Robotics and Extortion,” will finally return to the franchise for the fist time since a brief sequence 1981’s For Your Eyes Only, and the first time in any significant way since 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever. (The 1983 Bond film Never Say Never Again was made by a different company and technically doesn’t count.)
But what of Quantum? The 2008 James Bond thriller Quantum of Solace revealed that a secret organization almost-but-not-entirely like SPECTRE was behind the events of the first two Daniel Craig films. The group, dubbed “Quantum” was expected to be a contemporary stand-in for their Cold War counterpart. But in the wake of SPECTRE‘s announcement it seemed as though it may have been brushed aside by the franchise in favor of the original, “real” thing.
Related: The 24th James Bond Film is ‘SPECTRE’
Today we learned that Quantum may make an appearance after all: Jesper Christensen, who played Quantum member “Mr. White” in both Casino Royle and Quantum of Solace, has been revealed by Empire Online as a member of the SPECTRE cast.
“It is a truly exciting script and a very capable team,” Christensen told the publication, which is indeed good to hear. But what does this mean for the plot of SPECTRE? Is Quantum a rival organization, a splinter group, or just a front for Bond’s real enemy, which could be so secret that they hide behind even more secrets.
The news is encouraging for fans of Quantum of Solace (they’re out there), and for the rest of us who thought that despite Solace‘s flaws, Quantum came across as an intriguing threat that was worth exploring in future films.
SPECTRE, directed by Sam Mendes (Skyfall), will star Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, and new cast members Dave Batista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Andrew Scott (“Sherlock”), Monica Bellucci (The Brotherhood of the Wolf), Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour) and Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained). The film arrives in theaters on November 6, 2015.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
