Rami Malek in final talks to play the villain in Bond 25

By Sam Barsanti | February 28, 2019 | 8:08pm

Aux Features Film

Back in December, when MGM confirmed that Lea Seydoux would be appearing in the next James Bond movie as Madeleine Swann (the same character she played in Spectre, the previous Bond movie), there were also rumors that Rami Malek was being considered for the villain role but wouldn’t be able to do it because of his Mr. Robot shooting schedule. Since then, of course, Malek has won an Academy Award for his excellent lip-synching ability in Bohemian Rhapsody, and getting his name on a movie poster is suddenly much more valuable—not to mention the fact that it must be very good for your career to keep appearing in movies after winning an Academy Award, even if Mr. Robot is very good and doesn’t deserve to be put on anybody’s back burner.

Whether or not it’s because Rami Malek has a new gold statue, he’s apparently back in consideration for the villain role in Bond 25, with Collider even saying that he’s “in final negotiations” for the part. Cary Fukunaga is writing and directing the film, following some drama with Danny Boyle, and Daniel Craig is still set to star as Bond even though he vehemently denied that was a thing he’d ever want to do. There’s also a chance the movie will be called Shatterhand, which is weird.