The 24th film in the James Bond franchise is currently facing a faster turnaround than expected, after script rewrites delayed the start of production by a couple of months. Shooting is now expected to get underway in early December, but scant few details about the film's plot and its cast are currently available, despite pervasive rumors that the new villain will be played by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Daniel Craig will of course return as James Bond himself, while Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Ralph Fiennes will reprise their Skyfall roles as Q, Eve Moneypenny and Gareth "M" Mallory, respectively. Skyfall director Sam Mendes will also return to helm the film, the script for which was written by John Logan and later touched up with a little more humor by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (Casino Royale). The plot (and official title) are still largely unknown, but Logan has said that James Bond 24 will build on the themes and ideas from Skyfall.

With a script rehearsal set for November, a new cast member for James Bond 24 has now been revealed. The Daily Mail reports that French actor Léa Seydoux, who was one of the stars of last year's Palme d'Or-winning romance Blue is the Warmest Color, will play a "femme fatale" in the next James Bond film. It's unclear how prominent the role will be, though Mendes was previously rumored to be screen testing Scandinavian actors for a small female part. Perhaps the director decided to look elsewhere in Europe to find someone for the part, or perhaps this is a different character entirely.

Lea Seydoux in The Grand Budapest Hotel
Tony Revolori and Léa Seydoux in 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'

Seydoux is no stranger to the action genre, having played assassin Sabine Moreau in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. She also had a small role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, and this year appeared in Wes Anderson's comedy caper The Grand Budapest Hotel. After Blue is the Warmest Color impressed the judges at Cannes Film Festival last year, Seydoux and her co-star Adèle Exarchopoulos made history by being the first actors to jointly receive the Palme d'Or alongside the film's director, Abdellatif Kechiche.

The description of her Bond character as a "femme fatale" doesn't necessarily mean that she'll be back in an antagonist role, since Bond's previous female allies (and lovers) have included a number of spies and other women with deadly talents. With any luck, this casting reveal should soon be followed by more news regarding which new actors will appear in James Bond 24.

Who knows; perhaps by the end of the year we'll even know what the movie's actual title will be.

James Bond 24 will be in U.K. theaters on October 23, 2015, followed by a U.S. premiere on November 6, 2015.

Source: Daily Mail