As challenging as it is to take on the role of James Bond himself, playing one of his megalomaniacal villains is arguably just as tricky. Some of the greatest actors in the world, like Christopher Walken, have hammed it up too much in the role of a Bond villain.
The last three actors to play Bond villains – Javier Bardem, Christoph Waltz, and Rami Malek – were all Oscar winners. Much like Daniel Craig, they’ve left some pretty big shoes to fill. From Tilda Swinton to Gary Oldman, there are plenty of great casting choices out there for a diabolical Bond villain.
Liam Neeson
According to Digital Spy, Liam Neeson was offered the role of Bond way back in the ‘90s after Timothy Dalton stepped down and before Pierce Brosnan was cast. He turned down the role and ended up reinventing himself as an action hero a decade later with 2008’s Taken.
While Neeson has grown too old to play Bond himself, he might make an interesting Bond villain. Thanks to his tough-as-nails on-screen persona, he’d be a great physical match for 007.
Idris Elba
As the search for Daniel Craig’s replacement begins, Idris Elba has become a popular choice for the next Bond. But according to ITV, even if the producers wanted him for the part, Elba isn’t interested in playing Bond.
Instead of playing Bond himself, Elba could play a great anti-Bond villain like Scaramanga or Alec Trevelyan, characterized as the opposite of 007: a suave, charismatic assassin with just as much skill and even fewer scruples.
David Tennant
David Tennant has appeared in such iconic British franchises as Harry Potter and Doctor Who, but he’s never been in a Bond film. In both comedic and dramatic roles, Tennant is usually an affable everyman.
But he showed off his ability to play a truly sinister villain as the mind-controlling sociopath Kilgrave in Jessica Jones. He’d probably do something wildly unexpected as the bad guy in a Bond movie.
Cate Blanchett
While Cate Blanchett is primarily known for starring in Oscar-baiting dramas like Blue Jasmine and Carol, she’s no stranger to the more fun side of cinema. She played classical villainy to spectacular effect in Thor: Ragnarok, hamming it up like a Disney villain in the role of the God of Thunder’s nefarious long-lost sister Hela.
Blanchett’s scene-stealing turn as a pulpy baddie is one of the few redeeming qualities in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Michael Shannon
From Man of Steel to The Shape of Water, Michael Shannon is often cast to play a creepy villain. In Rian Johnson’s murder mystery Knives Out, his character’s creepiness was used as a red herring.
In a Bond movie, Shannon could play a cold-hearted tycoon with delusions of grandeur in the mold of Karl Stromberg and Max Zorin.
Daniel Brühl
Daniel Brühl played a spy movie villain with a nonsensical diabolical plan as the grieving family man who singlehandedly tears the Avengers apart in Captain America: Civil War.
Before he was turned into comic relief in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Baron Zemo was a lot like a Bond villain – and Brühl did a terrific job with that role.
Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton can handle real humanity and pathos when it’s required of her, like in A Bigger Splash or The Souvenir, but she also has plenty of fun letting loose with eccentric roles in the films of Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch. Her hilariously hammed-up villain in Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer proves she’d make a great Bond villain.
The haunting edge that Swinton brought to the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia movies is comparable to Joseph Wiseman’s unsettling on-screen presence as Dr. No in the first-ever Bond movie.
Gary Oldman
Considering he’s the actor that Oliver Stone cast to play Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, it’s safe to say Gary Oldman is a strong choice to play a villain. He played an unforgettably sadistic (and hilariously eccentric) antagonist in Tony Scott’s lovers-on-the-run thriller True Romance.
Oldman has even proven that he’s adept at taking on well-worn franchise roles; he brought plenty of nuance to his unique take on Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight trilogy and played one of the most iconic on-screen portrayals of Count Dracula for Francis Ford Coppola.
Willem Dafoe
From Platoon to The Lighthouse to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Willem Dafoe is fantastic in pretty much everything he does. But he’s particularly captivating when he’s playing a villain.
Dafoe’s villains, like the Green Goblin in Spider-Man or eerily calm hitman J.G. Jopling in The Grand Budapest Hotel, are uniquely creepy. He could bring the same eerie calmness seen in his Grand Budapest performance to the role of a Bond movie’s resident megalomaniac with a “god complex.”
Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter played a straightforward bad guy brilliantly in Harry Potter, but also brought a deadpan quirk to roles in Fight Club and a bunch of Tim Burton movies. Her delightfully eccentric performance style is perfect for a James Bond villain.
Bonham Carter subverted her initial “English rose” typecasting by deliberately seeking darker roles. Playing a Bond villain would be right up her alley.