10 James Bond Villains Who Simply Vanished
7. Guy Haines
In anticipation of No Time to Die (2021), the fate of Guy Haines (Paul Ritter) from Daniel Craig’s second Bond outing, Quantum of Solace (2008) has attracted some debate.
Although seen only briefly, Haines (an homage to Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951)) attends a Quantum conference at a performance of Tosca to discuss Dominic Greene’s (Mathieu Amalric’s) Tierra Project.
When Double-0 Seven gate-crashes the meeting, Haines - a close adviser to the British Prime Minister - promptly leaves, but is identified by M (Dame Judi Dench) and M’s Chief of Staff, Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear) from photographs taken by Bond. Retired MI6 operative, René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) later identifies him for Double-0 Seven.
Quantum of Solace was originally to have ended with James Bond apprehending Guy Haines and eliminating Mr White (Jesper Christensen) for good. However, given the uncertainty of whether the overarching plot from Casino Royale (2006) would continue during Craig's tenure as Double-0 Seven and director, Marc Forster’s desire to have an emotional outcome to that film's storyline, this sequence was discarded. A version of it did, however, appear in video game adaptations of the film.
Haines' fate might be explored further in No Time to Die, given Quantum’s links to SPECTRE, despite the sad passing of actor, Paul Ritter earlier this year.