There are no further details about the villain however as the studio is keeping the character under wraps. However, we do know that Bardem was offered the role at about the same time he received his best actor Academy Award nomination for his recent performance in the Spanish-language drama, Biutiful and another role in Ron Howard's The Dark Tower trilogy.

MGM is emerging from bankruptcy and hopes to leverage the Bond pic to force whichever studio is chosen to distribute the film, to also co-finance a number of other films with MGM. The move would create instant capital for the cash-hungry studio but isn't sitting too well with other studios.