First we got word that Christoph Waltz was rumored to play the villain in Bond 24.  After that, it was reported that Waltz was taking the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld.  When it was officially announced that the franchise's 24th installment would be titled Spectre, as in the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, the very organization Blofeld is head of, it seemed likely that Waltz really would wind up playing the evil genius hell-bent on world domination.  However, then the official James Bond Twitter account dubbed Waltz’s character Oberhauser.  Does that mean Waltz definitely isn’t the head of SPECTRE?  Could Oberhauser just be an alias for Blofeld?

While talking to Waltz for his upcoming release Big Eyes, I tried to clear that up a little bit.  Hit the jump to find out what Waltz said.

When asked if his character is the head of SPECTRE, Waltz simply replied:

“No.  No.  It’s more interesting than that.”

So there you have it.  Oberhauser is not the head of SPECTRE and, therefore, Waltz is not Blofeld.  But, if we have a SPECTRE, there must be a Blofeld, right?

[Note from Matt: I was talking with Silas Lesnick from ComingSoon.net last week, and he had the interesting theory that Monica Bellucci is playing Blofeld.  Silas pointed out that the last name of Bellucci's character, Sciarra, means "habitational name from Sciarra in Palermo province, Sicily, named with a word denoting a volcanic area."  As Bond fans know, SPECTRE operated out of a volcano.

Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on my part, but it would be great if A) Waltz was being used as a red herring; and B) Blofeld is a woman.]

Spectre is due in theaters in the U.K. on October 23, 2015 and in the U.S. on November 6, 2015.  The film also stars Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Lea Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott, Monica Bellucci and Jesper Christensen.

Here is the official synopsis:

A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.

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Image via Sony Pictures