No Villiers for Bond 22

MI6.co reports that Tobias Menzies will not return to Bond 22 to reprise the role of M’s assistant Villiers.

The news comes directly from Menzies, who says

Sad news for all Villiers fans, he is no more! Casino Royale was his first and last stand. May he rest in peace.

I think this is a shame. I didn’t like or dislike Villiers; it wasn’t much of a role, but establishing the reality of Bond’s life means establishing a cast of characters. MI6 should be a real location with real employees. That’s why fans loved Robinson and Tanner, and why Moneypenny is important. That sort of continuity is much more meaningful than whether a movie directly references or follows a previous movie.

Tracy: The point of continuity

In discussions of continuity, you can mention characters such as Felix, time anamolies (the obvious fact that Bond cannot have been having these adventures since 1962 and still be in his 30s or 40s), and discrepancies (Bond has expertise in Oriental languages in You Only Live Twice, but cannot read a Chinese keyboard in Tomorrow Never Dies). But from 1969 through to 2002, there was one undeniable point of continuity: Tracy Bond, nee Teresa di Vicenzo.

Tracy is the only person or thing that, from her introduction, is treated consistently as if she is an integral part of Bond’s past. Bond seeks Blofeld for revenge in DAF. Agent XXX mentions Tracy in TSWLM. Bond visits her grave in FYEO, Felix mentions her in LTK, and there is what some fans consider an oblique reference to her in TWINE.

In the novels, the wounded heart of Bond was always a subtext, following Vesper’s suicide in the first 007 book, Casino Royale. Tracy was introduced quite late in the series, and her death nearly destroyed Bond. In the films, Bond had a cool, untouchable exterior until Tracy came along, and then carried the grief in silence. Now, we are in a new Bond era, and the wound, again, is the betrayal by, and loss of, Vesper Lynd.

Paul Haggis Interview

Commander Bond has the goods: Paul Haggis, interviewed on Coming Soon, talks Bond 22.

“It picks up two minutes after the last one, and it’s going to be fun.”

Haggis denies the Clarice Van Houten rumor. and also denies that Bond 22 will be humorous in tone.