‘Spectre’ Trailer: James Bond’s Ghosts Come Back to Haunt Him

Daniel Craig’s James Bond doesn’t know what the word “spectre” means. But James Bond fans do.

The criminal organization known as SPECTRE (it stands for Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) has a long history with Bond. It first appeared in the Ian Fleming novel Thunderball. Onscreen, it was Bond’s primary antagonist from his very first adventure, 1962’s Dr. No, where it ostensibly replaced SMERSH, the Soviet spy organization Bond traditional opponent on the page, to make the 007 films less potentially controversial. SPECTRE haunted Bond through most of his early adventures but for many years a lawsuit brought by Fleming’s Thunderball co-writer Kevin McClory kept these infamous baddies off of James Bond’s radar.

MGM and Danjaq (the company that controls the screen rights to Bond) came to an arrangement with McClory’s estate in 2013, and put all that to rest. Sure enough, the new Bond film is called Spectre. The first full trailer above certainly hints at the return of the organization, or at least a new version of it, led by Christoph Waltz. They’ve even got the signature SPECTRE logo, a big tentacled octopus.

The new Spectre trailer also hints at the continuation, and perhaps the conclusion, of the various plot threads the Daniel Craig Bonds have been weaving since 2006’s Casino Royale. In that film, Bond faced off with a SPECTRE-esque organization that was eventually revealed to be named “Quantum” (the lawsuits and rights hadn’t been settled and squared away at that point). Now it seems that Waltz’s character may have been behind everything all along, leading Craig to disobey M (Ralph Fiennes) and ask Q (Ben Whishaw) for help in setting off on a personal mission of revenge.

Here’s the full plot synopsis (which actually reveals more details about the characters than the trailer, so proceed at your own risk):

A cryptic message from the past sends James Bond on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome, where he meets Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), the beautiful and forbidden widow of an infamous criminal.  Bond infiltrates a secret meeting and uncovers the existence of the sinister organization known as SPECTRE. Meanwhile back in London, Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), the new head of the Centre for National Security, questions Bond's actions and challenges the relevance of MI6, led by M (Ralph Fiennes). Bond covertly enlists Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) to help him seek out Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), the daughter of his old nemesis Mr White (Jesper Christensen), who may hold the clue to untangling the web of SPECTRE. As the daughter of an assassin, she understands Bond in a way most others cannot. As Bond ventures towards the heart of SPECTRE, he learns of a chilling connection between himself and the enemy he seeks, played by Christoph Waltz.

This looks like a great sequel to Sam Mendes’ Skyfall, and catnip for longtime Bond nerds. Bring on the bad guys! Spectre opens in theaters on November 6.