Beyond the fact that Daniel Craig’s returning once again as 007, no official casting announcements have been made about the upcoming Bond 25, as directed by Danny Boyle. Helena Bonham Carter was rumored to be playing the villain of the piece, but that’s about all we know. That being said, a now deleted video on Instagram has unveiled another British star who looks to be joining the film.
Personal trainer Giacomo Farci shared a clip of Mark Strong, next seen in DC’s upcoming Shazam!, getting into shape on his Instagram account. While that didn’t tell us anything, his tags for the video revealed all, as he captioned the post with “#jamesbond,” “#bond25,” and “#007.” Adding credence to the theory that Farci told us something he shouldn’t, the video has since been taken down.
Though we’re not meant to know this yet, the fact that Strong’s joining Bond 25 is good news. The actor is practically born to star in a Bond film, as he’s no stranger to the spy genre. If you’ll recall, Strong was part of the all-star ensemble cast in 2011’s Oscar-winning Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and, more recently, starred as the Q-like gadget man Merlin in the Kingsman movies.
Those two roles aside, Strong’s most known for playing villains, so we imagine he’s been cast in an antagonistic part here. The fact that he’s getting into shape suggests he’ll get to try his hand at some action, too, perhaps going toe-to-toe with Daniel Craig’s secret agent. Assuming Bonham Carter is still in the picture, Strong could even be playing her henchman.
It’s best not to speculate too much, though, as all previous work on the movie was scrapped when Danny Boyle came on board, as he brought his frequent collaborator John Hodges with him to pen a fresh script. The director’s teased that Bond 25 will have some sort of new hook, as he’s commented that he has “a great idea” for the film, but besides that, all we really know is that it’s set to be released on November 9th, 2019 in the US.