‘Wonder Woman’ Actor Saïd Taghmaoui Says James Bond Villain Role Uncertain Post-Boyle: Report

Saïd Taghmaoui (Wonder Woman, The Missing) confirmed that he had been set as the villain in the next James Bond film, but the exit of director Danny Boyle has the casting on hold.

In an interview with The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, Taghmaoui said he had recently been contacted by the project’s producers. Said Taghmaoui, “We don’t know who the director will be, and the producers don’t know if they’re going to go Russian or Middle East with the baddie right now. I literally just received a message saying: ‘If they go Middle East, it’s you. If they go Russian, it’s someone else.'”

Boyle’s departure from the film was announced last month by producers Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and star Daniel Craig, who said the exit was Boyle’s decision. Deadline reported that Boyle had told producers that he was only interested in the project if he could tell the “specific story” as contained in a script by John Hodge, based on Boyle’s idea.

“I’m supposed to do the next James Bond, playing the lead bad guy,” Taghmaoui said. “I was cast by Danny Boyle, and just now he left the project, so of course there’s some uncertainty.”

Until his role of Sameer in Wonder Woman, Taghmaoui was probably best known to U.S. audiences for The Missing and before that, for portraying Caesar on Lost.