With Benicio Del Toro out of the running for the part of the villain in the Star Trek sequel, director JJ Abrams and team have been back on the hunt for a new bad guy. Now a report says that two actors are in the running, with Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez as the leading contender. More details (and potential spoilers) below.
Venezuelan Actor Edgar Ramirez front-runner for Star Trek villain
The latest Star Trek sequel villain casting news comes from Variety, with sources saying that Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez is the "front-runner," with Jordi Molla (Columbiana) "also in the mix. Both actors are expected to test for the role over the next two days and director JJ Abrams is reported to be interested in making a decision before the end of the week. It is noted that there may be some issue regarding scheduling with Ramirez, however Variety sources say "Abrams wouldn’t consider any actor if they were unavailable."
Regarding Ramirez, Variety notes the actor has been "pursued by the studios since his breakout turn as infamous terrorist Carlos the Jackal in Olivier Assayas’ miniseries Carlos." The 34 year-old actor has also appeared in Domino, The Bourne Ultimatum and Vantage Point, and will soon be seen as Ares in Wrath of the Titans.
Edgar Ramirez in “Carlos” (L) and Jordi Molla in "Colombiana" (R) – both in the running
to be villain in 2013 "Star Trek" sequel
Over the last week there have been a couple of unconfirmed reports that the villain role for the Star Trek sequel will be Khan. Variety has no more details but does point out the obvious with regards to the actors being considered for the role:
The next question to be asked his what character Ramirez will play in the film if he gets the part. It was reported last week — before it was known del Toro was out — that the villain may be Khan, but Abrams and Paramount denied it.
Whether that denial was aimed at the role or just del Toro’s involvement wasn’t quite clear. But it should be noted that Abrams was still in need of an actor of Latin descent, the same ethnicity of Ricardo Montalban, who played Khan in the original series and "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."
Production on the Star Trek sequel is still slated to start in mid January, which explains why Abrams is anxious to nail down his villain.
Stay tuned to TrekMovie for all the latest news on the Star Trek sequel.
Well, maybe it is Khan.
OK. Either way I’m interested.
Many have said (myself included) “There is only one Captain Kirk, etc.” JJ + team proved us all wrong.
So hopefully it won’t be Khan, if it is, I look forward to reinterpreting him.
Okay, now it’s obvious.
The villain will be… Pancho Villa.
Let the Khan speculation begin anew!!
I disregartmen with the choice of film can sequal. Why resentment of the timing of Spock realize he still? Eugenics and the 1990 notes doubleize reset the timeline on? No?
If the whole point of “rebooting” the franchise via an alternate timeline was to provide the makers with the creative freedom of pursuing new ideas, then why the hell would they want to introduce Khan back into the franchise? I know it’s still pure speculation at this point, but it would be completely asinine to go down that road. New ideas (and new villains) please!
I don’t care if it’s Khan or not, just as long as they make a great film and feature Spock/Uhura. :-)
It’d be nice to see a new villain, though.
If Khan is the villain then my faith is totally gone, it is lazy writing and will be inferior to what has gone before.
He reminds me of a cross between Javiar Bardem and Del Toro.
Please release teaser trailer soon and counting down to opening day!
I hope they go with Jordi Molla instead of Edgar Ramirez for Khan. Molla has the over-the-top style that Khan needs — he was great in Bad Boys II, in fact his performance saved that movie. Ramirez doesn’t seem that interesting…blah, blah, blah artsy-fartsy roles.
Molla has the panache and screen prescence to carry off Khan — I am concerned that Ramierez is too much of thoughtful type of guy for this role.
Bob, please convey to JJ to go with Molla.
7
Be nice if they got back to proper Star Trek.
Everything points to Khan. I would be so disappointed if that was true. I want NEW Trek stories, not rehashing old TOS material that will never live up to the original.
MJ I read the article at Collider again and it says that Ramirez might have scheduling conflicts and Abrams doesn’t like actors with scheduling conflicts. So he could choose Molia
@11. Exactly, like the Enterprise confronting Khan. Glad we are in agreement for once Captain Neill.
Plus Molia co-starred with Saldana in Columbiana. I am thinking about renting that movie when it comes out on Dec. 20th.
Has anyone seen Carlos? It’s definitely Khan. Denials and speculation be damned. Not too pleased, but Ramirez was freaking awesome in Carlos and would own the role (in his own way).
Still, we’ll see what happens when an announcement is made.
What I really don’t understand is, why reboot TOS if at the end, you are going to repeat the same stories again ?
I don’t know about the rest but I just don’t like the idea of having Khan as the villain in the new movie.
Khan prolly will be Kirks best friend turning enemy and be a epic 2.5hr story about the need of the many outweighing the need of the one. Khan will prolly end up marooned on some planet :)
if it’s khan, it wouldnt be anything like wrath of khan but more like a theatrical version of space seed…with a twist, which i’d be all for. just remember, this is JJ & team, so it’s possible he’ll throw everybody for a loop and it wont be khan at all. it’s a 50/50 chance.
#17 I kind of feel the same with retelling TOS its like been their done that. On the other hand would it be cool retelling TOS to a general audience and seeing Abrams and crew doing a different take on TOS episodes.
You now see that ONLY hispanic actors are being considered for this part, and STILL you are pretending it might not be Khan? I am awarding 100,000 denial points this time.
I like both of them. They both look as mean as Del Toro.
#6.
Best post i have seen in the last two years,i agree with you 100%.
Bravo Sir!
#18 Wouldn’t that be like Lex being Clark’s best friend then turning on him?
Jordi Molla
Khanfirmation of Khan is no longer needed.
Jordi Molla over Ramirez. He looks more interesting.
@#11
As that’s what they’ve been doing, I’ll be glad to see more of it.
I’d say with the interest in Latino actors makes it pretty clear it’s Khan. (And when you parse out JJ’s denial that Del Toro would play Khan, it makes sense if his statement was basically saying, “No, Del Toro isn’t playing Khan, because Del Toro’s not going to be in the movie.”)
And perhaps Eve is playing Dr. Carol Marcus.
I really like Peter Weller, but in Gene Roddenberry’s universe there are no CEO’s in the 23rd century. (And money would be quite useless in a post-scarcity economy. And Trek has always been in a post-scarcity time, as evidenced by statements by Kirk, Picard, and others along with showing the use of replicators.)
I just hope the strange rumors about carnivorous Tribbles who took over the Klingon home world was just some kind of joke or foiler.
The JJ team should hopefully avoid jumping the shark.
If they’re going to have Khan, they should go with Gael García Bernal. I think he would make an excellent Khan.
So… Mr. Orci, If you’re reading this, you guys should really consider him as well. Thanks!
So, they’ve been looking at a Puerto Rican, a Spaniard, and an Argentinian for their lead villain. Naw, the bad guy ain’t gonna be Khan. He’s gonna be a drunk Irishman. :-)
#6
It would be nice to see new ideas (and new villains), but I suppose we can’t expect too much from the copy and paste generation of Hollywood mega-product. At the very least, we can hope for a dynamic, entertaining, well-acted… retread.
What if they did a twist of Wrath of Khan. Dr. Carol Marcus on board the Enterprise to find of planet to test the Genesis Device and when Kirk, Spock, Chekov and Dr. Marcus beam down to Ceti Alpha V they find Khan and crew out of suspended animation. Then Khan and crew act friendly at first but then decide to take over the Enterprise to get back to Earth so they can rule again.
Don’t forget, the “reboot” only began from the point and day of Kirk’s birth so with Khan being cryofrozen since the 1990s (trek lore) and technically still on the botany bay at the point of time change, it wouldn’t necessarily affect his timeline until that point.
Besides, Kirk himself is a different person, his life since the timeline changed has been different, which makes for an all new encounter should it be Khan.
Give it time for the story to unfold before us over the coming weeks and months. I for one am happy for any new trek and this will be just that, even if an old adversary emerges one of the lead villians.
Edgar Ramirez is great … ok, I had a crush on him when he was opposite Keira Knightley in Domino … :-) :-)
@31 “It would be nice to see new ideas (and new villains), but I suppose we can’t expect too much from the copy and paste generation of Hollywood mega-product. At the very least, we can hope for a dynamic, entertaining, well-acted… retread.”
You mean like in 1982 when the beloved Nicolas Meyer reached back into TOS and did a re-tread movie base on Khan.
Meyer — you copy and past hack job guy — we love you!
OK, did I miss something here? I thought Khan was of Indian descent, am I right? (as in the nation of India, not an American Indian, or to be PC, not a Native American) So why all the emphasis on finding an actor of Latin descent? Just because the original actor was of Latin descent? I believe the original Charlie Chan was a caucasian. Both Marlon Brando and Tony Randall infamously played Asian roles. These were all many years ago, when you could get away with that kind of shit. Have we not made any progress at all?
Not saying it is Khan, still not buying that.
BUT, if it is Khan, and they cast an actor of Latin descent just because it was done before (a piss-poor excuse) they have lost me. Before they even roll film on the first scene. I expect more from all involved. And frankly, I would expect more from Star Trek in the year 2012. This ain’t the 60’s anymore when that crap would pass.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again…
It’s the 21st century. You can’t cast a Latino as Khan Noonien Singh. That’s just patently ridiculous and offensive in this day and age.
If the villain is Khan, then they should cast Khan – Shah Rukh Khan, that is. He was born to play this role, and is a huge international star (yet likely more affordable than Benicio del Toro). Plus, by going in such a different direction, it will all but eliminate comparisons to (the great) Montalban.
Make it so, J.J.
@28 “I really like Peter Weller, but in Gene Roddenberry’s universe there are no CEO’s in the 23rd century.”
Come on, you really need to watch TOS again. There are countless episodes where it is obvious that corporations are alive in well….sure, you might say we didn’t actually see a CEO as a character, but obviously the commercial interests represented in those episodes would have to have a leader.
@ #21-
” You now see that ONLY hispanic actors are being considered for this part, and STILL you are pretending it might not be Khan? ”
Do you even realize how ridiculous that logic (or lack of it) is?
@37. Dude, he’s a made up character in a made up future, and he was originally played by a Latino.
Get over it!
Not bad. Like it.
KHAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNN
What about that TNG episode where they had those people from the 20th Century unfrozen from Cryonics? One was a CEO and asked for the Wall Street Journal and wondered if what his company stock was and crew didn’t seem to know what he was talking about. Unless in TOS’s time they had Corporations and in TNG’s time they didn’t?
They could be seeking Latino actors because they want Star Trek to make more money internationally than it always has, and there are lots of Spanish-speaking countries a Hispanic main actor could appeal to. Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s Khan.
…But yeah, it’s probably Khan.
@42
So the mining company is The Devil in the Dark has no leader?
ANd the quadotritaclie farming operation in The Trouble with Tribbles was leaderless?
Well if this doesn’t reek “Khan Begins” and we waited how long for this?
This pisses me-off, no need to get excited about the comics now.
ST2.0 FUBAR
Maybe the role is Javier “Pancho” Khan, Khan Noonien-Singh’s goofy, but lovable twin brother, who never took world domination seriously, but made the best margaritas this side of Juarez.
Having stowed away on the “Botany Bay,” and seeing that his brother’s sleeper-chamber has malfunctioned, hilarious hi-jinx ensue when he is mistaken by Khan’s followers, and Kirk and Co. for the leader of this group of 20th century genetic supermen.
I guess this means he’s cheaper than del Toro.
Although Ricardo Montalban was Latino, the character he portrayed, Khan Noonian Singh, was of South Asian descent. If they are recasting Khan, it might make sense for them to recast the character with a South Asian actor. This would be consistent with the recasting decisions for Scotty and Chekov.
There should be a limit to the number of times a person can post in a given hour… really.
#35
But TWOK wasn’t a copy and paste job; it was the continuation—a sequel—of the story Space Seed started. And it ended. Khan dead. Big boom. Story over.
Move on.