Is No Time To Die‘s Safin really classic James Bond villain Dr. No? Since the movie’s first trailer and details, the No Time To Die Dr. No rumor has been the strongest fan theory around, with various hints and teases nodding in that direction. Even the movie’s title seemingly pointed towards the Safin Dr. No speculation, despite the director insisting otherwise. So is the No Time To Die villain Dr. No or an original creation?
Full spoilers for No Time To Die follow!
Is No Time To Die’s Safin Dr. No?
No Time To Die’s villain Safin (Rami Malek) is not Dr. No, although there are many references in the movie towards the classic Bond movies of the ’60s starring Sean Connery that make Safin feel inspired by Dr. No.
The rumors about No Time To Die’s villain actually being Dr. No, the titular villain from the very first James Bond in 1962, started back in 2019 — where Rami Malek dropped several hints that his character was either Dr. No or inspired by him. With the character being pictured wearing a Japanese ‘Noh’ mask, along with the movie’s title, the rumor began to build. The previous movie Spectre hid the existence of returning villain Blofeld, so fans expected something similar here. Furthermore, Safin’s costume and base of operations seemed to strongly evoke Dr. No.
However, it is simply not the case, despite several things feeling like deliberate references to Dr. No — Safin’s island base and SPECTRE connections, along with No Time To Die’s title sequence starts with rows of colored dots intentionally done in the style of the Dr. No movie’s titles. Rami Malek’s Safin, however, is not Dr. No — and the movie is all the better for it.
For more on James Bond, there’s a leak of a remastered version of the greatest 007 game of all time out there, and the creators of Hitman are working on a new Bond game that will hopefully challenge GoldenEye for that title.
