Earlier this morning, director Sam Mendes pulled the sheet off the latest entry in the James Bond franchise – Spectre – and the Internet exploded in a flurry of Sean Connery  jokes. Daniel Craig is back as the titular agent and the rest of the revealed cast is a great collection of beauty and danger.

Schplendid.

The film’s title confirms the rumours that Bond will once again be tussling with the nefarious SPECTRE (which, of course, stands for *Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion* because evil groups like to have evilness as their mission statement), but what of its leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld?

Well, (the absolutely *fantastic*) Christoph Waltz’s character is officially listed as “Oberhauser”, but let’s face it, he’s Blofeld. Let’s hope the eventually reveal isn’t as weak as the damp squib that was Khan:

Naomi Harris, Rory Kinnear, Ben Whishaw, and Ralph Fiennes all return in their respective *Skyfall* roles (and Fiennes was wonderful as M, so more of him please). New cast members include:

Andrew Scott as Whitehall worker Denbigh (and, after his spectacular turn as Moriarty in *Sherlock*, a great addition to the cast):

Dave Bautista as possible evil henchman Mr. Hinx (and nothing would go over his head, his reflexes are too fast):

Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra (and she would make such a perfect Bond femme fatale I can’t believe she hasn’t been in an earlier entry):

Léa Seydoux (who you may remember from her fantastic performance in Tarantino’s *Inglourious Basterds* alongside Christoph Waltz) as Madeleine Swann, apparently another femme fatale (because Bond):

…and the car is the Aston Martin DB10, which has the real danger of being the sexiest thing on screen:

So, great Bond, great director, great cast. I absolutely loved *Skyfall* so I have my hopes raised very, very high for *Spectre*. If you have a spare *four hours*, here’s a recording of the reveal from Pinewood with all the cast in tow:

*James Bond: Spectre* releases on 6th November 2015.

Just a reminder – 2015 brings a new *James Bond, Star Wars, Jurassic Park*, and *Terminator*. And *Pitch Perfect*. Yep.

*Via [io9](http://io9.com/the-next-james-bond-movie-is-titled-spectre-1666622850)*