Report: J.J. Abrams wants Benicio Del Toro as next Star Trek villain

News is breaking tonight that director J.J. Abrams has his eyes set on Benicio Del Toro to play the villain in the upcoming Star Trek sequel.



The report comes from Variety, and besides the fact that the role would be for a villain, no other details are currently known. In fact, Variety reports that not even Del Toro knew the details of the role when he met with Abrams:

Insiders say Del Toro has met with Abrams but, in an effort to keep the role a secret, still doesn’t know exactly what it is.

However, Variety says Del Toro will soon officially be offered the part.

So who do you think Del Toro will be playing? Rumors offer various possibilities, but given the secrecy that always involves Abrams’ projects, it’s likely only he, the studio and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof know the details.

The Star Trek sequel is reportedly being prepped to begin filming in early 2012, perhaps as early as January.

TrekMovie will continue to monitor the situation with the Star Trek sequel and report any updates.


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The One That can’t be Named

Very, very cool news if true.

Thanks for all the updates, Rosario. Hope Anthony is ok.

riiiiiiiiiiiiight……………….

Koloth?

Kahn!!!!!!

Too bad that Benecio Del Toro starts filming Bond #23 Skyfall on Monday!

Oh My God!! :) :) :) This makes me a very happy Trekker!!! :) This is such awesome news!! Can’t wait to see who he’ll be!!

Kahn!!! really that is all I see with a name like that.
Star Trek 2 and 2+10 will be the same

For the villain, I for one would love to see something like a rogue Starfleet captain collaborating with someone like the Klingons. Basically as cunning and daring as Kirk but in a twisted, selling out Starfleet kind of way. Staying a step ahead of everyone – even members of his own crew.

KHAN !!!!

“News is breaking tonight that director J.J. Abrams has his eyes set on Benecio Del Toro to play the next villain in the upcoming Star Trek sequel.”

…..OooooOOOoo-kayyyyy….
Don’t waste his talent, that is all I’m asking. I’m talking to you, YOU!

:)

Maybe someone out of left field, like Garth? :)

@6: Nope, that’s Javier Bardem doing Skyfall.

#9 What about the rouge Starfleet officer collaborating with the Klingons to find Khan and revive him to help overthrow the Fedreration. Then Khan kills him and turns on the Klingons to and they send Kirk in to save the day.

Do we need a villain?
Sigh.
So adolescent.
I miss Star Trek.

@6, it’s Javier Bardem in the James Bond movie, not Benicio Del Toro.

Del Toro would be Khan.

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AGAIN WITH A VILLAIN?

BIG MISTAKE!

I just hope what we get is an antagonist and not a “villain,” and by that I mean a character who actually has well-written motivations for the dastardly deeds he does. Nero was like something out of an old Superman cartoon.

Leave Spock on an ice planet to watch his homeworld destroyed? Yeah, why not tie him to the railroad tracks while you’re at it?!

Juvenile indeed.

Harry what else would they do? They need to keep the general audience and the Trek fans. The general audience knows the Klingons and Khan. If it was a new villian the general audience may think they are going back to Trek that just Trek fans like and they find that boring. I sometimes think that is the way to go a new take on old Trek villians for a new audience. Then their are other times I think been their, done that and Trek is done.

Look at a pic of him with a goatee next to pic of Kor from TOS….. Just sayin’

Another idea what if they redid Errand of Mercy and showed the Klingons battling the Federation forces and suddenly they all stopped because of the Organians? Kirk vs. Kor. Like #23 said.

#22

Funny, the Bond movies have introduced new villains over and over again. The general audience—whatever that is (people, I guess)—they still go to see them. And still no remake of Goldfinger yet, thank God.

But Bond is differnent from Star Trek, the general audience doesn’t think Bond is for nerds only.

Benicio as Gary Mitchell? Just a guess…
Good to see some news stories again! Where’s the story about Zachary Quinto doing great work on FX Networks’s “American Horror Story”? About as far from Spock as you can get…
Trekmovie.com also missed the Star Trek gag on last Sunday’s “Robot Chicken.”

Never heard of this guy, but he looks like Khan.

Then again, with makeup he could look like any sort of alien.

JJ doesn’t get it! Star Trek isn’t about the hero and the villian, it’s about the journey and the relationship of the holy trinity(Kirk, Spock, & Bones) I hope this isn’t Space Seed Redux”

@22 nero was a new villain, never once seen in trek before 2009. audiences went crazy. nuff said.

Wow, I really, really, really hope that it is NOT Khan.

That would be so freakin lazy and lame. It really does seem like they are trying to emulate the Dark Knight with bringing it what THEY think is the classic Trek villain in Khan (like how Joker is Batman’s classic nemesis). But, that is what THEY think. And THEY are so wrong.

I would be really disappointed if it is Khan. Wow, if there was anything to keep me from watching this sequel, it would be Khan.

Why can’t they use Kor, or Trelane, or Harry Freakin Mud? Stupid Khan. Man, that sucks. Yeah, I agree that the casting of Del Toro looks like its gonna be Khan. And that just blows.

But they also had stuff the general audience know about, Kirk, Spock, Scotty and the Enterprise

#26

Public perception of “nerds” has nothing to do with it.
If a movie is properly marketed, people will [most likely] go see it.

In regards to the secrecy of Abrams projects, it occurs to me that it must suck to be friends with any of the writers while these projects are going forward. “Come on, tell me who the villain is. I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”
“NO” “Please?” “NO”. lol.

If it is Khan, I can actually understand that, the movie needs a big name villain with such a long delay to get the interest back that may have been somewhat lost. IMO of course.

I think Benicio is more to play a Klingon villain… something werewolf… or is it possible that’s Khan… ???… OMG!!!

Thanks Rosario!!!

:-) :-)

He will portray a Klingon.

Intruiging idea .

First big piece of news on the Star Trek sequel in months. Even though it’s not much to go on yet, it’s nice to have that “excitement” feeling return. Keep up the tidbits please! :)

Tired of the villian-thing too.

I miss Stat Trek as well.

@40

I miss STAR TREK!

40.

I think you meant to say GIVE US TREK STAT!

How boring, another Kirk vs the bad guy movie.

ST2 arguably the best Trek movie? Perhaps.

However, I would vote for ST4 as the next best. There really wasn’t a bad guy or villain, the movie was more of an adventure.

Why not tell the story of why there is a neutral zone, or why the Federation is not allowed cloaking devices?

A big reason why the last movie was thought to be so good, was that the previous two were lame. The next movie had better get into character relationships and story telling.

I just have this feeling we’re going to be watching the next Trek and thinking it looks a lot like Transformers.

Nicholas Meyer anyone? I’d even consider letting Clint Eastwood do the next Trek movie.

Benicio looks like a cross between Gary Mitchel and Kang, mostly like Michael Ansara did back then…

I think Del Toro would be good as a Klingon, like Kor or somebody else. If done right a Klingon story could be very interesting and bring in a lot of ‘non-fans’. It would be too unimaginative if he were just Khan redone.

Don’t forget that Trek does not do well overseas. Del Toro was brought in with that in mind, I am sure.

Del Toro is good at playing villains. He played Che! Maybe they’ll have him play a version of Space Che. All the young hipster federation kids would wear t shirts with his face on it, after Kirk kills him. This stuff writes itself!

Wonderful idea. I’m intrigued.

Testing. Testing. Is this thing on? Welcome back Trekmovie!
Still hoping for a non-villain villain. Bit no matter what role he plays, Del Toro would be a excellent addition to Trek. Yes, very good news.

Is he going to speak non-intelligibly like he did in The Usual Suspects?

And to echo others sentiments,yes I miss Star Trek too.

Benecio Del Toro would make a great ‘Red Shirt’.