Now that J.J. Abrams is officially on board to direct the sequel to his 2009 Star Trek reboot (which, according to Movieweb, isn’t going to be called Star Trek 2), new details are beginning to emerge about what we can expect. Not many details, of course, because Abrams seems to believe that his work would be ruined if it isn’t shrouded in total secrecy. This is what leads so many people to be disappointed and frustrated by his stuff, but such is the way the Super 8 crumbles.The latest information coming out of Not Star Trek 2 is that Abrams is courting Benicio del Toro to play the main villain in the sequel. This, of course, prompts people to immediately speculate that he’ll be playing Khan Noonien Singh, the role originated by Ricardo Montalban and the villain of the original Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Because that was Star Trek II, and this is Star Trek 2 (Not Star Trek 2). Also, Ricardo Montalban was from Mexio, and Del Toro is from Puerto Rico. Disregard that those are totally different countries. They’re both Latino!
Fans who spend more than eleven seconds thinking about this realize that there’s no way this is the case, of course, because it’s simply too obvious. I just don’t think there’s any way that Abrams goes back and does Khan again — especially since it wouldn’t make any sense without the groundwork already having been laid by “Space Seed.” Of course, the idea is so crazy that maybe Abrams and company would see it as a bigger challenge to actually try and pull it off. I don’t think so.
Hopefully, Not Star Trek 2 will solve the villain problem that the original 2009 Trek wasn’t able to crack. There are a ton of reasons to like that movie, but Eric Bana’s Nero isn’t one of them. He’s fine in the role (which is essentially a watered-down version of Khan, by the way), but never even came close to touching the greatness of the best Star Trek villains. I’m looking at you, God.
redshirt diaries 
I remember being really excited when Christopher Plummer was announced as the villain for Star Trek VI… because I was such a big fan of The Sound of Music. No joke.
Ha..that makes two of us. The climactic battle scene would have been a bit different if, instead of quoting Shakespeare, General Chang launched into a rousing chorus of “Edelweiss”
And, because of my age and the order I saw things in, I initially thought it was weird to see Kruge as Doc Brown. I got over that one fast.
I really don’t think J.J. Abrams would redo Khan. Redoing Khan would be like walking through a minefield. He would piss of legions of Trek fans by redoing what many consider to be the best Trek film. He’s already got quite a few detractors for blowing up Vulcan, I can’t image he’d do it again.
I could see Benicio as a Klingon or even a renegade Starfleet officer trying to start a war.
He’s a wonderful actor. I can’t wait to him in this!
I’m getting the sense that you’ve gone back to the beginning and are reading RSD in order, Nick, which is AWESOME. But it’s already been revealed (in the media, and by me in a more recent post) that Del Toro dropped out before any papers were signed. The main villain of ST2 (which is already shooting!) will be played by Benedict Cumberbatch, the British actor who was in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and War Horse — and who, most importantly, plays Sherlock Holmes on the current BBC reboot Sherlock. That’s on Netflix Instant, and if you’re not already watching it, you should. It’s great and so is he, so I’m excited that he’s on board.
I really, really don’t think they’re going to do Khan. I like your idea about a renegade Starfleet officer, though, A LOT. The Abrams series could get away with doing something like more than the original film series, because Star Fleet has already played such an important role in the universe he’s established. Please send J.J. your script, please. I would like to see that movie.
Guilty as charged. I’m a bit behind on current Trek events but I did eventually get to the post about Del Toro being out.
What I have liked about Star Trek post-Roddenberry is that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have not been afraid to explore the darker side of humanity in the future and a Starfleet or Federation that has conflict within itself would be a great idea…. And if I had a script I would try try try to get published but I also recognize I would one of about 50,000 trek fans that has a script so best of luck there.