Former Walking Dead star Colman Domingo has expressed his interest in being a villain in the James Bond franchise. In addition to playing Victor Strand on all eight seasons of the spinoff show Fear the Walking Dead, Domingo has starred in a variety of movies including The Color Purple, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and 2021’s Candyman. He also played civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in 2023’s Rustin, for which he was recently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Variety recently spoke with Colman Domingo in the wake of his nomination. When asked what type of roles he wants to pursue in the future, Domingo shared his interest in playing a villain in the James Bond movies or working with director Yorgos Lanthimos in “something like Poor Things.” He said that “I’m not interested in whatever anyone has seen me do before.” Read his full quote below:
I’d love to work with Yorgos [Lanthimos] in something like Poor Things, or to be a Bond villain. I’m not interested in whatever anyone has seen me do before.
Colman Domingo’s Bond Villain Role Would Be Perfect
Colman Domingo’s assertion that he wants to play a Bond villain rather than Bond himself might seem surprising. However, it fits perfectly with his career up to this point. Typically, the actors who are cast as Bond are relative newcomers with only a few titles under their belts. Although Sean Connery would later win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1987’s The Untouchables, so far none of the six James Bond actors were nominated for any major film awards prior to playing the role.
The same is not the case for many iconic James Bond villains, however. Perhaps because villains are supporting characters that require less wide-ranging commitment for actors with busy schedules, those roles have drawn much more established talent. Over the years, James Bond villains have been played by many decorated actors including Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas, Yaphet Kotto, Christopher Lee, and Louis Jourdan. Below, check out how many Bond villains earned Oscar nominations or wins before they ever appeared in the franchise:
Name | Bond Appearance | Oscar History |
|---|---|---|
Lotte Lenya | From Russia with Love (1963) | Nominee – The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) |
Telly Savalas | On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) | Nominee – Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) |
Christopher Walken | A View to a Kill (1985) | Winner – The Deer Hunter (1978) |
Javier Bardem | Skyfall (2012) | Nominee – Before Night Falls (2000), Winner – No Country for Old Men (2008), Nominee – Biutiful (2010) |
Christoph Waltz | Spectre (2015), No Time to Die (2021) | Winner – Inglourious Basterds (2009), Winner – Django Unchained (2012) |
Rami Malek | No Time to Die (2021) | Winner – Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) |
Even if Colman Domingo doesn’t win his Oscar in 2024, the villain role is where he belongs in the James Bond franchise. The actor also has ample experience playing villainous or complicated characters in projects including Fear the Walking Dead, The Color Purple, and Candyman. With those roles under his belt, along with this recent Oscar nomination, he could be set up to craft a memorable villain opposite whoever gets cast to play Bond in the next iteration of the long-running franchise.
James Bond
- Created by
- Ian Fleming , Albert R. Broccoli
- First Film
- Dr. No
- Latest Film
- No Time to Die
- Upcoming Films
- James Bond 26
- Cast
- Sean Connery , George Lazenby , Roger Moore , Timothy Dalton , Pierce Brosnan , Daniel Craig
