At an an official reveal at England’s 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios today, director Sam Mendes addressed a crowd ahead of a seven-month shoot on his James Bond follow-up to 2012's Skyfall. First, the video wall behind the director revealed that the upcoming Bond movie is officially titled Spectre, and Mendes followed that unveiling by announcing the film's official cast, including both returning and new actors.

Viewable online worldwide via a livestream (courtesy of 007.com), the first character revealed was not a human, but rather a new car, the sleek, silver Aston Martin DB10. Mendes then went on to announce the official cast.

As expected, Naomie Harris (Miss Moneypenny), Ben Whishaw (Q), Ralph Fiennes (M), and Daniel Craig (James Bond, aka 007) are all reprising their respective roles from Skyfall, with Craig taking the stage to the catchy thrum of the 007 theme song accompanied by a nice round of applause. Also announced to return was Rory Kinnear as Tanner. Before Craig's introduction ended the event, however, Mendes introduced the new cast members, with a few of the introductions confirming circulating rumors.

David Bautista, Christoph Waltz, Andrew Scott , Monica Bellucci and Léa Seydoux will be joining the cast, with shooting scheduled to begin next Monday and rehearsals currently underway. Bautista will play Mr. Hinx, Scott will portray Denbigh, Bellucci will play Lucia Sciarra, and Léa Seydoux will portray Madeleine Swann. The official James Bond Twitter account lists Waltz's character as Oberhauser, but this could be a cover name, as many still believe that the actor will play the ultra-villain, white Persian cat-stroking Ernst Stavro Blofeld, a likely possibility considering the personnel of "Spectre" in Bond canon.

In Ian Fleming's Bond novels and certain Bond films (such as Thunderball and Dr. No), SPECTRE is a multinational organization that stands for "SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion." The organization is directed by Blofeld, who orders a substantial team of villains to conduct nefarious deeds worldwide. The entire entity acts as an evil counterbalance to England's MI6.

Spectre will shoot over seven months in various worldwide locations, including London, Rome, Mexico City, Tangier and the snowy Austrian Alps, with Lee Smith (The Dark Knight, Interstellar) editing and Hoyte Van Hoytema (Let the Right One In, Interstellar) working as cinematographer.

Skyfall director Sam Mendes returns to helm the project, once again working off a screenplay by John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Spectre is expected to hit theaters from Sony on November 6th, 2015. We'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on further announcements regarding the 24th Bond film. Below, we have the film's first official teaser poster.

Source: 007.com
  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.