Bond 23 writer John Logan teases BAFTA audience with Blofeld line

Screenwriter John Logan, who is working on the Bond 23 script with co-writers and 007-almuni Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, hinted at last night's BAFTA event that an iconic figure may be returning.

At the BAFTA Screenwriters lecture, WhatCulture reports that during the Q&A session, Logan was reminded by an audience member of a quote that he said some ten years ago that, in his opinion, “Bond should always fight Blofeld”. When pressed on this he gave a wry smile and said “Bond should always fight Blofeld”.

But Logan's quip may be just a big tease to throw commentators off the scent.

Up until now, most fan speculation about the central villain for the 23rd James Bond film has centered around the leadership of Quantum, the villainous organization that has been behind the evil-doing in Daniel Craig's first two outings as 007.

Blofeld has not, in the official EON Productions canon, been seen in a Bond movie since "Diamonds Are Forever" in 1971. Although a bald-headed wheel-chair bound villain played by John Hollis appeared in the "For Your Eyes Only" title sequence, the role was uncredited and seen by many as EON's way of drawing a line under the Blofeld character that was embroiled in the Kevin McClory claims (who subsequently won rights to launch his rival 007 outing in 1983's "Never Say Never Again").

Blofeld has largely been airbrushed out of subsequent Bond properties. In the 2004 videogame "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent", he was simply dubbed 'Number One'. SPECTRE was even removed from the 2005 videogame adaptation of "From Russia With Love" and replaced with 'OCTOPUS'. But last year, in Activision's remake of the "GoldenEye" videogame for Nintendo Wii, Blofeld appeared as a multiplayer character in the guise of Charles Gray's portrayal from "Diamonds Are Forever".

For the record, Blofeld appears or is heard in three Ian Fleming novels: Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and You Only Live Twice.

Thanks to `PanchitoPistoles` and `marketto007 ` for the alerts.

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