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.