'SPECTRE' Spoilers, James Bond 24 [PHOTOS] Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Wishaw Reprising 'Skyfall' MI5 Roles In 2015 - Sam Mendes Explains Returning Cast Decisions

This morning brought some huge announcements for the upcoming, 2015 007 film directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig as the leading character. We've learned the new title for the film previously referred to as "James Bond 24," and it holds a lot of weight in the 007 franchise. 2015 will see the release of SPECTRE, with a slew of new characters as well as some familiar faces from Skyfall. In a recent interview after the cast announcements, Mendes explained why he brought the MI5 team from the last film back, including Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Wishaw and Rory Kinnear (SPOILERS to follow)

We previously reported on this title and casting announcement from this week just earlier today. Check out our previous coverage of SPECTRE right here!

While we're very excited about the casting of Christoph Waltz, Monica Bellucci, Lea Seydoux, Dave Bautista and Andrew Scott, we're also happy to see the characters introduced in Skyfall taking center stage as well in 2015.

"I felt an attachment to the characters that we created in Skyfall," Mendes said today on BBC radio, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I felt like there was unfinished business, and that there was a lot more I could do with them once I'd kind of stepped aside and had some time off."

He also spoke about filming and compared SPECTRE to the financial powerhouse Skyfall.

"A lot of the last movie was shot in and around London, which I loved, but there's a limited amount of stuff you can shoot in London, and I feel this has more mischief in it, perhaps, a little bit more of the unexpected. But it also does relate back to Skyfall in many ways," he explained.

Check out the Twitter posts for the returning cast members here:

... Ralph Fiennes as M. pic.twitter.com/YxYbYC2xwC

— James Bond (@007) December 4, 2014

Ben Whishaw at this morning's #Bond24 announcement... #SPECTRE pic.twitter.com/kw29gdYMc2 — James Bond (@007) December 4, 2014

... and Naomie Harris at the #Bond24 announcement... #SPECTRE pic.twitter.com/ovRErakgzO

— James Bond (@007) December 4, 2014

... here's Rory Kinnear (Tanner) at this morning's #Bond24 announcement. #SPECTRE pic.twitter.com/NV0De1u2tk — James Bond (@007) December 4, 2014

You can watch the entire event including the title reveal, the cast introductions and Sam Mendes showing off new Aston Martin DB10 over on YouTube.

Are you happy to see these returning cast members? Let us know in the comments section below!