Even after the release of the No Time To Die trailer this month, there are still few details available about Daniel Craig's final James Bond film. We know that Christoph Waltz will return as the villainous Blofeld and that Léa Seydoux will reprise her role as Bond's love interest Madeleine Swann, but there is little available information about the newcomers - particularly the new villain, Rami Malek's Safin.
Malek hasn't revealed much about his character, other than the fact that the villain will not be a fundamentalist of any kind. He told director Cary Joji Fukunaga early in the process that he didn't want the terrorist character to have any religious affiliation. We see him briefly in the trailer, where he wears a mask over his scarred face and says that his "skills will survive long after" he is gone. But other than that, details have been sparse.
In the absence of hard facts, one theory has started to gain traction on Reddit and beyond: that Safin may actually be Dr. No, the eponymous villain from the first Sean Connery Bond movie.
Bond Movies Have Pulled Off This Trick Before
If No Time To Die does indeed bring back Dr. No, it wouldn't be the first time the franchise has brought back a villain from previous entries. Look no further than Spectre for proof: Christoph Waltz's villain Ernst Blofeld appears in a number of early Bond films, including From Russia With Love, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice and For Your Eyes Only, and is also a character in a number of the Ian Fleming novels. After being featured as the central villain in the last Bond film, he is set to play a role in No Time To Die as well - albeit in a secondary role to Malek's villain.
Additionally, this wouldn't be the first time a villain is not the person they claim to be. In Spectre, the film writers threw a wrench into Blofeld's character when he revealed it was not his actual name. He was born Franz Oberhauser, Bond's foster brother, who killed his biological father and staged his own death before taking up the pseudonym. This was a new development – in the old Bond films, Blofeld was his birth name. If the next film brought back Dr. No and claimed his name was Safin at the outset, it would continue the trend of adding a new element to a returning character. (Plus, the movie is called NO Time To Die. Coincidence?)
Malek's Villain Needs To Be As Big As Blofeld
One thing that is clear about No Time To Die is that Safin is the main villain, while Blofeld is secondary to Malek's character. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said in an interview that he "really is the supervillain" and is "a nasty piece of work." However, Blofeld is an iconic character in the Bond canon, and Waltz gave a memorable performance in Spectre that he looks like he will carry over to this film. There is a severe risk of overshadowing Malek's villain with Blofeld retaining such a prominent role - as talented an actor as Malek may be.
Considering this is the final Bond film of the Daniel Craig generation, one can expect the filmmakers to pull out all the stops when it comes to Malek's villain. How can they do that? Maybe by revealing Malek as an even more iconic bad guy than Blofeld. Dr. Julius No is one of the most famous 007 villains, one that put the franchise on the map and served as a blueprint for several Bond villain parodies. Koseph Wiseman's performance may be fully etched into most 007 fans' memories, but if anyone could live up to it, it's the Oscar-winning Malek. In short, bringing him back would certainly be a surprise that would overshadow anything Blofeld has to offer.
The Similarities Between Malek's Villain & Dr No
This theory started from Reddit speculation, but there are a number of uncanny similarities between Malek's villain and Wiseman's Dr. No. In the famous confrontation in Dr. No, Wiseman wears a white turtleneck-style sweater and stands in a lair with control panels that lower a platform into water. Malek's Safin only has one scene in the No Time To Die trailer, but that scene looks very similar to the one from Dr. No. Safin wears a similar sweater, only black, and stands in a lair that seems like it has control panels that lower a platform into water.
Additionally, eagle-eyed trailer viewers spotted a brief scene where a number of men wear hazmat suits in a water facility. This, again, is very close to a similar set in the Connery film. With the word "no" already in the title, these coincidences only add more potential puzzle pieces to put together.
What This Means For No Time To Die
Reviving Dr. No would be symbolic for a number of reasons. No Time To Die is reportedly Daniel Craig's final Bond film, closing the book on the franchise's most acclaimed and well-regarded set of films since Sean Connery was in the title role. Bringing back a character from the film that started it all would be an effective send-off for Craig, and would provide a particularly dastardly villain for him to face off with during his final ride.
As to what Safin's role will be in the upcoming film if he is indeed Dr. No, it can safely be assumed that he will be a member of criminal organization SPECTRE, as he was in the original film. In the last film, Blofeld revealed himself to be the head of that organization, saying he recruited each of the three previous film's villains to hunt Bond down. Safin and/or Dr. No could be Blofeld's final test, and a worthy adversary, as director Fukunaga described him in an interview with Empire. There were theories that Blofeld would play the Hannibal role while he is in captivity, revealing key information that could help Bond. Perhaps he is pulling the strings instead.
