It seems like we may finally know which villain J.J. Abrams is going to be using for his upcoming Star Trek sequel. It’s been a long journey to get here — at first Benicio Del Toro was rumored to be playing the part, so naturally everyone assumed Khan was coming back. Then it was revealed the villain role was actually going to Benedict Cumberbatch, who obviously tests far too low on the swarth-o-meter to play Khan.
So, who is Cumberbatch playing? According to Karl Urban (the guy who plays Bones in the new movies) Cumberbatch is going to be Gary Mitchell.
For those not up on their Original Series, Gary Mitchell was the antagonist of Star Trek’s pilot episode. Mitchell was a helmsman who trained and served under Kirk until he gained dangerous psychic abilities after the Enterprise flew through its first of many space anomalies. Ol’ Gary began to think he was a God and started killing crewmembers, which led to a showdown between him and Kirk. Sounds like good movie fodder to me!
Of course Robert Orci and others involved in the movie are denying Gary Mitchell is the villain, because J.J. Abrams loves SECRETS. I’m thinking Gary may be a pretty safe bet though — clearly they want to do the Wrath of Khan “revive a villain from the Original Series” thing with this movie, and if they’re not doing Khan himself, Gary Mitchell is one of the better options.
Really, it’s him or Gorn.
via Blastr