Ben Whishaw to play Q in new James Bond film Skyfall

Ben Whishaw will play Q in the forthcoming James Bond film Skyfall.

The actor’s agent confirmed his exact role in the 23rd entry in the James Bond film. The actor had been confirmed as appearing in Skyfall but his exact role hadn’t been revealed until now. Whishaw will play gadget designer Q in the new film – the character played by Desmond Llewelyn in 17 of the films (starting from 1963’s From Russia With Love)  and is by far the actor most associated with the character. John Cleese played a character titled Q in the film Die Another Day and previously appeared, as the same character but titled R, in The World is Not Enough.

The new James Bond film will see Daniel Craig once again play the title character with Judi Dench returning as his boss M – however, the film will not be a direct sequel to Quantum of Solace and will not continue the storyline established by the first two movies featuring Craig’s Bond.

Earlier this year actor Ben Whishaw played journalist Freddie Lyons in BBC Two’s 1950s based drama The Hour. A second series has been commissioned and its expected the actor will reprise his role. Yesterday it was announced the actor was amongst the cast of the corporation’s adaptations of several Shakespeare plays which will air next year; he’ll play Richard II.