Although he’s been attached to the project for some time, British actor Ben Whishaw‘s character for the latest James Bond flick Skyfall, has finally been revealed. According to THR, Whishaw will be playing Q, the gadget master who was immortalized by Desmond Llewelyn, but has been absent from the Bond films since 1999′s The World Is Not Enough.

Whishaw is among a cast that consists of Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney in Sam Mendes’ first ever Bond-directed mission. The official synopsis for Skyfall is as follows: “Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.”

Q is forever linked to the physical appearances, acting style, and cadence of Llewelyn, so Whishaw has some pretty big shoes to fill on that end. This is also the first time in Bond franchise history that the character of Q is actually younger than Bond himself; Whishaw is 31 and current Bond, Daniel Craig, is 43.

Over the past few years, Whishaw has definitely made himself known with roles in I’m Not There and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, so I think his role as Q could add a much needed element to the Bond movies that we haven’t seen with the past installments. He’ll also be seen in the epic Wachowski and Tom Tykwer adaptation of Cloud Atlas next year.

Skyfall is due to premiere in London on October 12th, 2012, with a release in the U.S. on November 9th, 2012. Just Jared has posted a few set pictures of Craig as Bond at Trafalgar Square in London, which one can be seen below and the rest at the respective site.

Are you happy about this casting decision?