Fresh off his Oscar win for Bohemian Rhapsody, Rami Malek has been announced as the next villain in the upcoming James Bond movie — the 25th in the spy film series.
"I'm very much looking forward to joining the whole cast and crew so very soon," Malek said in a video message that aired during a live cast announcement on Thursday, "and I promise you that I will be making sure Mr. Bond will not have an easy ride of it in this, his 25th outing."
The next film, which does not have an official title as of yet, will be Daniel Craig's last as 007. He has played Bond in four films so far: Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), and Spectre (2015).
"We've just tried, during my tenure, to try to continue that tradition of just making movies that stand out and are different from the other movies out there," Craig said Thursday.
Also returning to the cast are Ralph Fiennes (M), Ben Whishaw (Q), Naomie Harris (Moneypenny), Léa Seydoux (Dr. Madeleine Swann), Rory Kinnear (Tanner), and Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter).
New cast members include Billy Magnussen, Ana De Armas, David Denick, and Lashana Lynch in unconfirmed roles.
The producers of "Bond 25," as it's being referred to for the time being, announced in September that the director would be Cary Fukunaga, best known for directing the first season of HBO's True Detective series.
The film's production team on Thursday also announced that Killing Eve creator and writer and Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge was serving as one of the film's screenwriters.
Reports from earlier this month said Waller-Bridge had been brought in to "liven up" the script, having been specifically requested by Craig.
In keeping with the films' globe-trotting style, "Bond 25" will be filmed in Norway, the UK, Italy, and Jamaica, which has already served as the Caribbean setting of the Bond films Dr. No and Live and Let Die.
A press release shared the following preview of the film's plot:
Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
Filming officially begins on Sunday, with the movie's release scheduled for April 2020.
CORRECTION
Jeffrey Wright's named was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.