Oscar-winner Rami Malek will be the next James Bond villain
What's the story
Rami Malek has firmly established that he is an actor to watch out for, after a phenomenal performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
Malek also won the Best Actor award at the Oscars for this role and has now set his sights on the next project.
He is going to play the James Bond villain in the upcoming movie.
Here's more.
Villain
Malek ready to star opposite Daniel Craig in Bond movie
According to reports from the Collider, Malek has cleared his schedule for the shooting of Mr. Robot, the show where he plays an anti-establishment hacker with mental issues.
He is now in the final stages of negotiations to star in the upcoming James Bond movie, which will see Daniel Craig return as Bond for the last time.
Notably, Cary Fukunaga is helming the project.
Till now
Rest details scarce, new Bond villain may be blind
While details surrounding the new Bond villain are scarce, there is a possibility that he might be blind.
This is based off comments from Said Taghmaoui, the Moroccan actor, who was considered to portray the antagonist when Danny Boyle was supposed to be the director of the project.
It will be interesting to see someone of Malek's talent play a blind villain.
Cast
Malek joins a host of familiar faces in upcoming movie
Once Malek officially joins the cast, he will be a new addition to the host of familiar characters returning to the film.
These include Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, Ralph Fiennes as M, Ben Whishaw as Q and Lea Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann.
Lupita Nyong'o of Black Panther fame and Billy Magnussen of Game Night are being potentially eyed as new cast members.
Opinion
Bumpy project seems to finally be on its way
The upcoming Bond movie has faced several roadblocks, with Boyle leaving the project over creative differences.
The script is being overhauled by Scott Z Burns, as we reported.
All this caused the project to be pushed back to an April 8, 2020 release date, wherein it was initially scheduled for a fall 2019 release.
Hopefully, it will move steadily ahead following the major casting.