31-year-old actor Ben Wishaw will play Q in the new Bond film, Skyfall. The character hasn’t featured since played by John Cleese in Die Another Day (2002), but is being reintroduced for Sam Mendes’ forthcoming take on the franchise.

Wishaw, who has appeared in the likes of Layer Cake, Stoned and Bright Star, is 12 years younger than Daniel Craig (reprising his role as Bond), making this a pretty bold bit of casting.

Gadget expert Q was made famous by Desmond Llewelyn, who played the definitive version of character from 1963 up until his death in 1999. Here’s his first appearance as Q alongside Sean Connery in From Russia With Love:

And here he is briefing Brosnan’s Bond for the final time in The World Is Not Enough:

Although Bond was typically a bit mischievous with Q over the years, it’s obvious in this scene that he’s going to miss the man who keeps him supplied with classic cars, jet packs and exploding pens.

Cleese is total slapstick from the start, and in his final briefing in Die Another Day, not much had changed.

Since Daniel Craig made his debut as Bond in Casino Royal (2006), the films have taken on a rather more grown-up tone, and there have even been reports that award-winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Revolutionary Road) is gunning for another Oscar with Skyfall.

So we should probably expect a very different dynamic between Bond and Q to what we’ve become accustomed to. Some may say that the films are veering too far from the established Bond clichés we all know and love, but others are excited to see how the characters and the packaging of the films evolve.

As long as Bond gets to partake in an awesome car chase or two, and takes delivery of some imaginative new tools for killing people / blowing things up / escaping from places, we’ll probably be happy.

What are your favourite Bond gadgets from over the years? Let us know!