“James Bond villain” isn’t a career path with an especially hefty lifespan; folks from Christopher Walken to Javier Bardem to (of course) Sean Bean have all learned to their detriment over the years that going toe-to-dapperly-outfitted-toe with Her Majesty’s favorite secret agent is a quick trip to Deadsville. The major exception over the years has always been Ernst Stavro Blofeld, created by author Ian Fleming to be a recurring antagonist for a man with a well-worn license to kill. Blofeld has been played by a lot of actors over the years—most notably Donald Pleasance, whose scarred, bald-headed take on the character planted the seeds for Austin Powers’ Doctor Evil, but also Telly Savalas and Charles Gray—but was portrayed most recently by noted evil politeness expert Christoph Waltz in 2015's Spectre.
True to form, Waltz’s Blofeld—who also plugged the classic antagonist into the Daniel Craig Bond films’ ongoing obsession with the superspy’s Batman-esque origin story—survived the Sam Mendes picture to die another day. Now, Variety confirms that Waltz will appear in the next Craig outing, still going simply by its numerical designation, Bond 25. Cary Fukunaga is directing the film (picking up from Mendes and Danny Boyle, who was briefly attached), but it’s unclear whether Waltz’s SPECTRE head will end up being the primary antagonist, or whether he’ll be doing a Hannibal Lecter boxed crook sort of thing. (You can see it, though, right?)
Bond 25 is currently filming, with Ralph Fiennes, Lea Seydoux, and Naomie Harris all also reprising their roles from the earlier films, and Rami Malek joining the franchise, presumably as a bad guy who won’t manage to survive James Bond’s highly explosive wrath. The film is currently set for an April 2020 release.