The past month has been a bit of a whirlwind for J.J. Abrams’ Untitled Star Trek Sequel, particularly in terms of casting. Benecio Del Toro entered talks and Alice Eve came on board. Hell, the other day Rene brought you news that Robocop himself has beamed up. The bigger question is what roles will they be playing? No information has popped up involving Weller’s part and Eve is supposedly playing a character that is new to the canon, although I’m sure she’ll end up the object of Kirk’s man-whorish advances at some point in the film.
What about Del Toro though? When wading through the myriad of rumors floating about the ‘net, all signs point to……
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!
Or not to Khan? The title of this article was chosen for a reason. A war seems to have erupted between various film sites. Recently, Latino Review broke the “news” that the villain of the next film WILL BE Del Toro as Khan. J.J. Abrams has since debunked this, stating that “Del Toro is not playing Khan”.* And you know what? He’s right. Benecio Del Toro absolutely WILL NOT be playing Khan in the new Star Trek 2. How do I know this? ‘Cause Benecio won’t be playing anyone in the sequel. It seems that talks have broken down over money and Abrams has moved on.
What of these Khan rumors though? Before Del Toro walked away, another rumor began to gain steam. “Supposedly” there are TWO BIG BADS in the script. Rumor has it that Khan is one of them, but not the one that Del Toro was eyeing. Either way it really doesn’t matter anymore, but it does back up Abrams’ statement. After all, the man only debunked the rumor that Del Toro was playing Khan……..not that Khan will be in the film.
Naturally the fans are running wild with the possibilities, some even speculating that Khan might be a hero this time around. Personally, I doubt it. While the timeline was heavily altered in the previous film, Khan would still be the same mass-murdering asshole he was when he was frozen in the 21st century. Nothing Nero did would alter that.
So what do I think? Paramount asked them to include Khan this go ‘round. I didn’t say “forced” because the writers have publicly spitballed about the possibility of using Khan in a future sequel and Abrams likely has the clout to say “No”. So my prediction is this: Khan is the secondary villain. He is defrosted in the new film and begrudgingly team up with the crew of the Enterprise to take out the main villain (Klingons?). Perhaps his followers are held captive? Who knows? I just won’t be a bit surprised if he is left roaming the galaxy at the end of the film with a grudge against Kirk that can be followed up on in the third or fourth film. Granted I could be (and probably am) wrong, but I can easily see Khan being set up as a reoccurring threat within the new film series (and perhaps any TV spinoff as well).
Well, I’ve said my piece. Let’s hear yours…….
Source: AICN
* – Let’s not forget Latino Review running a similar rumor months ago that General Zod was going to be the villain for Man of Steel. Zack Snyder himself shot that one down, only to announce Michael Shannon as playing Zod weeks later. It looks like we might just be in for a repeat of that same scenario here.
6 comments
As a long time Star Trek fan, I had serious doubts about the reboot – then ended up really enjoying it. If the recent film had never been made I would have cried sacrilege at the thought of somebody else trying to revive Khan, now I say bring it on – at the very least Abrams is going to be challenged with improving( or at least not shitting all over) the greatest Star Trek film ever made.
I will say the one thing I think Abrams demonstrated with the first film was the fact he understood what made the original so great were the small moments of interplay between the characters – there were some nice moments between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Nobody will ever make a better Star Trek film than the Wrath of Khan, but based on the extremely entertaining remake, it will be fun to watch him try.
My interest in this will probably depend on who they cast as Khan.
Let us nay forget the last film was not a remake of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” but a reboot of the whole Kirk timeline. No saying how many years will have passed in the next movie but where we left off Kirk hadn’t but begun his five-year mission. People are quick to associate the sequel with “Star Trek II” and thus Khan, but this doesn’t remotely have to be true. Or if Mr Singh does appear, I would agree with Daniel in it might be closer to the circumstances of the original “Space Seed” than “Wrath of Khan”. Even if the next film skip jumps to the end of that infamous 5 year mission, Khan was still stuck on Ceti Alpha V for another 10+ years before we caught up with him in ‘Wrath’. (Though I suppose being exiled even just a few years would be enough to make someone vow revenge)
I’d be down with that. Khan as a begrudging ally and big bad in TREK 2.3? We need Klingon’s for Trek 2.2, not the bumpy headed ones (they have a cream for that) , but the cool hipster half-goateed version of ye-olden Trek! I’d really like to see it open with a fun Harry Mudd subplot with the Venus drug (busting interstellar drug peddlers) they then discover Khan’s ship and in the process of dealing with Khan they run afoul of the Klingons, I gotta go back and see what the Klingons are all about in the reboot (Star Trek 2.1) but they shot the proverbial interstellar load by introducing the Romulans early as opposed to ‘Balance of Terror” style (would have made a great intro to a race) , which I think they can do with either the Klingons or the Borg…yes I said it now, early…the Borg! Kirk would kick ass all over the Borg (in your face Picard!)
Why reboot the franchise when all you’re going to do is retell stories? They should have just set the time-frame in the 2nd five year mission.
Exactly! I was down with a reboot if they were going to tell fresh science fiction stories, but all they’re going to do is retread. Brand and name recognition to bring in dollars. That’s it. I look forward to a Star Trek movie that doesn’t have a villain. Star Trek doesn’t NEED a villain. The new Star Trek was, structurally speaking, the same as all of the TNG movies: a bad guy with an axe to grind and a superweapon blows stuff up and then gets punched by the captain. How about telling a science fiction story? Heck, maybe even one I could bring my kids to see.
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