10 Movie Characters Everyone Thought Were Secret Villains
3. M - Skyfall & Spectre
In Skyfall, we're introduced to Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee who quickly sticks in 007's (Daniel Craig) craw.
Given Ralph Fiennes' obvious penchant for playing detestable villains, it was a pretty safe bet that this bureaucrat would end up being revealed as a mole working for cyberterrorist Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem).
Yet Mallory is not-so-bad in the end, even inheriting the title of "M" following the M's (Judi Dench) demise.
But anyone who called Mallory being a secret villain was almost proven right in follow-up Spectre, as Fiennes revealed back in 2021 that director Sam Mendes originally planned to have M turn heel in the movie.
Fiennes perhaps half-jokingly suggested he could've been Blofeld, though it's perhaps more likely he would've played a part similar to Max Denbigh aka C (Andrew Scott), who is eventually revealed to be a secret member of Spectre.
Either way, Fiennes had to get firm with Mendes and insist that turning M into a villain would be a bad look - and, let's face it, piss off a ton of fans. Thankfully, it didn't happen.