According to a scoop over at Variety, Oscar winner and non-Lon Chaney Jr. wolfperson Benicio del Toro is close to being offered the lead villain in the highly-secretive Star Trek 2 (which also won’t be its final title).  The piece goes on to say that while it’s not a done deal, it’s looking pretty likely that he’s JJ’s guy for the role. Rumor has it that while he’s already met with Abrams, not even Del Toro knows exactly the part that JJ and writing team Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof  have in mind for him.

Obviously, the next word out of everyone’s mouths is going to be Khan. It’s a reasonable expectation, but I’m not sure Star Trek 2 needs to revisit the House That Montalban Built just yet. Something about Khan strikes me as too easy for JJ and Co. While I don’t doubt that they’re mining territory touched upon in The Original Series, I suspect it’ll end up being something more obscure that they can put their own stamp on. If he does land the gig, here’s hoping it’s an original character. I could see the guy rocking the shit out of some Klingon headgear.

Or perhaps a new species altogether? In a franchise claiming to go “where no man has ever gone before,” wouldn’t it be nice if they actually made good on that promise and gave us a villain from a heretofore untouched part of Roddenberry’s universe?

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