Why No Time To Die Should Revisit Spectre's Unused Mole Twist
No Time To Die should reuse an old, unused Spectre twist involving a surprise mole inside MI6. Blofeld and SPECTRE were a major part of the James Bond franchise during the Sean Connery era, but due to a messy lawsuit involving the rights to the character, EON couldn't use the villain anymore. Those issues were finally resolved for 2015's Spectre, which was Daniel Craig's fourth outing as 007. The movie not only brought back Bond's most famous foe Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), it revealed he was the spy's foster brother.
Unfortunately, this twist was met with decidedly mixed responses from the fanbase. Having Blofeld be Bond's foster brother felt like empty shock value that added little to the story, and Waltz's take was surprisingly lacking in genuine menace. Spectre itself isn't one of Craig's better outings in the role, despite some great sequences. For a time, it appeared it could serve as his swansong, but the actor later signed on for an official final adventure with No Time To Die.
No Time To Die will bring back most of the cast from previous Craig outings, include Waltz as Blofeld. Another messy reveal from Spectre was that Blofeld was behind most of the villainous plots of Craig's adventures, including Casino Royale and Skyfall. While it spoke to the insidious nature of SPECTRE as an organization, it again felt like a reveal that needlessly attempted to tie everything together. One early version of the story by John Logan would have revealed Rory Kinnear's Bill Tanner, MI6's Chief of Staff, was really a SPECTRE mole.
No Time To Die could still revisit this concept, as one of Mr. White's creepiest lines from Quantum Of Solace was telling Judi Dench's M that they had people "everywhere." Having Tanner be a leak placed at the heart of MI6 could have really linked together a lot of loose threads between the movies, in addition to giving Rory Kinnear - a great performer somewhat underused by the franchise - a meatier role. The franchise has often squirreled away good ideas that didn't fit in one adventure for another, and Tanner being a mole for SPECTRE could have some real bite if executed well.