Chiwetel Ejiofor: Top Choice to play ‘James Bond 24’ Villain

After a strong 2014 award season, Chiwetel Ejiofor has been basking in the glory of his outstanding performance in 12 Years a Slave; which won the Oscar for Best Picture, and Ejiofor himself was nominated for Best Actor.  While this could be considered as his biggest role so far, the actor isn’t new to town.  He has starred in several films over the past decade, including Serenity, Children of Men, and Kinky Boots.  The experience, paired with coming off a widely-acclaimed performance is what gets actors good work.

Recently, Ejiofor has been rumored to be a choice for casting in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, though no official casting for the latest installment has been announced.  In the meantime, it appears that the actor may be in the running for a second long-running franchise.  According to Variety, Ejiofor is the top choice to play the next Bond villain in the upcoming ‘James Bond 24’ (a working title) set for release in November 2015.

The 36-year old actor would be following in the footsteps left by Javier Bardem in Skyfall and Mads Mikkelsen in Casino Royale, both iconic and memorable performances as Bond villains opposite Daniel Craig, who is set to return as 007.  Ralph Fiennes, Ben Wishaw and Naomie Harris are also set to return, with Skyfall director Sam Mendes also returning to direct.

Filming is set to begin this Summer for ‘Bond 24’, so assuming Ejiofor decides to take the Bond route, it would most definitely mean he’d be out of the running for a role in Star Wars VII, which is also set to film all Summer.

The cool thing about Ejiofor as a Bond villain would be that he could either be a ruthless, action-heavy villain, but at the same time he has shown he is capable of a villain who could wear a nice suit and play the more collective yet disturbing baddie, similar to Bardem or Mikkelsen.

What do you think about Chiwetel Ejiofor as the villain in ‘James Bond 24′?  Catch the movie in theaters November 6th, 2015.

Written by Josh Sazin on 4/6/14, with a link to Variety.