Nimoy Tweets On Star Trek Sequel Reports + Another Actor From Villain Casting Search Identified

This week has seen a lot of reporting across the web about the Star Trek sequel, including some spoiler reporting. Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy has offered some thoughts of his own on these reports on Twitter. And in other sequel news, a new report reveals another actor who was up for the role of the villain in the Star Trek sequel. See below, but spoilers are discussed.

 

Nimoy tweets on Star Trek sequel reports

Last week when CNN asked Leonard Nimoy if he would appear in the Star Trek sequel he replied "we’re talking." This lead to a weekend of speculation and earlier this week AICN said their sources were saying Nimoy was in the movie, something which TrekMovie picked up on as well.

This lead Nimoy to take to twitter with the following…

In TrekMovie’s report we made it clear that nothing has been officially confirmed by Nimoy, the studio or anyone associated with the Star trek movie. So technically everything reported by us and anyone else at this point is considered rumor. And it is entirely possible that the reporting is not correct.

We will know for sure in a year, or when someone officially confirms.

Mexican actor Bichir was also up for villain role

Another bit of new reporting concerns the role of the villain in the Star Trek sequel. Back in November 2011 director JJ Abrams had confirmed that he was in talks with Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro, but those talks broke down in early December.And now Variety is reporting that Mexican actor (and Oscar-nominee) Demian Bichir was also considered for the role. An article about Bicher landing a new role in the indie film Machete Kills, also noted:

sources told Variety late last year that director J.J. Abrams had expressed interest in casting Bichir as the villain in “Star Trek 2,” but the actor had already committed to starring in a Mexican stage production of “Swimming With Sharks” that his younger brother Bruno was directing. Bichir had already delayed his participation in the play to topline “A Better Life” and recur on Showtime’s “Weeds,” so rather than bailing for another major Hollywood film, he stayed true to his word and honored his commitment to his brother.


Demian Bichir in last year’s "A Better Life" – had been considered for Star Trek villain

Other actors who have been reported to have audition for the role after talks broke down with Del Toro include Venezuelan Edgar Ramirez (Carlos) and Spanish actor Jordi Molla (Columbiana). However, in early January Abrams chose British actor Benedict Cumberbatch for the part, following his now famous iPhone (and apparently very impressive) audition.


Del Toro, Ramirez and Molla – all also considered for Star Trek sequel’s villain

One can’t help but notice that Abrams casting net included a number of Latino and Hispanic actors. And of course the role of Khan was originally played by Mexican actor Ricardo Montalban. TrekMovie recently joined the growing chorus of other outlets reporting sources saying that the villain for the new movie was indeed Khan (since our report FirstShowing.com also said their sources have been saying the same for months). But of course, like with the Nimoy report, these reports are still officially rumors as nothing has been confirmed by the studio or anyone associated with the film.

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Kind of hard to dispute now.

The studio should name the film, and issue a press-release so we can all just shut the f*** up about it and move on.

Del Toro, Ramirez and Molla should all play a trio of Klingons.

yes, many fans are Kahncerned. ;)

My but they don’t look in the least bit ‘pasty faced and British’ do they!

well, khan we say that nimoy is in the next movie?

and khan nimoy deny it for much longer?

nimoy khan only dodge the question for so long…..

he may have to re-khan-t his original statement.

un-khan-ny how this flows…………….

This is really starting to irritate and bore me, all at the same time. Now Leonard Nimoy is doing the same news/no news, say stuff but really say nothing bollocks – just the kind of stuff we got for a good part of 2010/2011.

I don’t know if they think they are being clever or funny or something, but this feels deceitful and smarmy. I guess I prefer the direct sort of approach. Either he is in the sequel or he isn’t. This is just so much crap.

Abrasive enough for people? Well, good – it’s meant to be.

Ramirez looks rather white and “pasty faced” in that photo…

Maybe Leonard can do this while eating an ice cream khan….

9.

Jesus!

i khan take a lot, but i khan-t stand it when people khan-t listen to a friggin’ khan-cern!

I think the Pros outweigh the Khans in this situation. Benedict will be good!

Got to love the back peddling on the nimoy rumor. I still think all 3rumors are suspect

Since when is Machette Kills a indie film lol, its being released by the same studio that released the first one and who RR has a production deal with now FOX. lol

Oh, there are no credits on that one…… sorry… I hope he’s in it anyway….

7 Keacheck nimoy first tweeted that people were jumping to conclusions the same day that aintitcool and trekmovie and other sites were posting he was indeed involved in the movie.

Its just people choose to misread his initial tweet and then ignore his tweet he posted the next day adding that conclusions were jumping and even these two tweets mentioned in this article i mentioned on the other thread yesterday and were ignored when i asked for peoples thoughts and opinons on them as they were to busy arguing about khan.

I also think that if the sites are getting rumors from various sources saying this, that they might in fact be using Khan as a red herring.

“Benedict will be good!”
________

Indeed, he will.
I have no doubt about it.

However, I still believe that these “Latino” actors were considered for other roles. The Latino-actors- equals-Khan argument never convinced me.

It never made sense, to me.

I’d still prefer if it wasn’t Khan as the bad guy, mainly because it gives Trek “small universe syndrome” (as in hey look, it’s Chewbacca what a 10 billion to one co-incidence).

Trek 11 already suffered from that understandably (you have to get all the crew together so it HAPPENS that the planet that Kirk HAPPENS to be ejected onto by an totally-out-of-character-huffy-Spock just HAPPENS to have Prime Spock on it) but if they keep on doing this then the entire alternate Universe Trek can’t stand on it’s own as well.

I know Bob Orci said it was the timeline trying to fix itself, but that suggests that there will always be these dorky co-incidences.

Space (as a wise man once said) is big. Finding the Botany Bay AGAIN is going to be a one in a quadrillion (to the power of one) fluke that is really going to stretch the credibility of a movie based on sound scientific principles such as warp drive and alternative realities.

What a bunch of gossip-y kahn-ts!

#15 – Are you saying that these are official posters? Where are these coming from? Why is Bob Orci saying that he cannot confirm or deny if these pictures (this one posted here and another one just showing Quinto/Spock bleeding green blood from his ear with the word “Khan”) are the real deal?

The picture of Quinto/Spock is from the first movie as is the one of Kirk. It looks like they have been photoshopped (green ‘blood’ added to Spock and Kirk given a bloody eye). Uhura’s picture is also the same and it would not be hard to add in a picture of Cumberbatch, along with the wording.

Frankly, I am not convinced by these pictures. Nothing has been confirmed by anyone about anything. Once again, it’s all speculation, wild goose chasing and most important of all, testing Trek fan audience reaction to carefully leaked rumours.

Perhaps they are for real, but I doubt it somehow. We’ve been sucked in!

What if Benedict Cumberbatch plays a *different* guy from the Botany Bay? Maybe Khan’s canister shorted out in this ‘verse, too, only they weren’t able to save him …

Also, #20. Regarding the “fluke” of finding the Botany Bay in space again … not so flukey. If you’ll recall, that vessel had been sending out an automated radio signal for many years, thus creating a large signal sphere around the ship. (“CQ, CQ …”)

Back in the day when i saw Generations and the lame way they killed off Kirk i could not believe that anyone involved in making a multi million dollar film just did not get it.

When i read later that they had originally filmed Kirk just being shot in the back i was equally astounded.

To me bringing Khan back would be on that level. The last two films were very Khan like so going over the ground again. It’s like turning on your favorite tv show only to find it’s the episode they’ve run six times already that year.

#22, no they’re not real..! That’s why I added a wink at the bottom..!

;)

Just announce it.
I Khan’t take it anymore!

20 — Don’t see it only according to statistical probability. See it as a universe in which certain things are compelled by currents of fate.

Even if time has been disturbed and an offshoot universe has been created…. The universe still might keep unfolding events and relationships with the overarching design.

:)

We’re one year out and we’re arguing in a vacuum (putrid pun angrily delivered.)
We deserve more information. Stars. A title. This is not 1982. People like to know a lot about a movie before they plunk down 12 bucks.

15 – Nice.

15 – Did Uhura get attacked by Zombies?

HEY EVERYONE… ZOMBIES IN ST 2013!!!

Wait — so is the report that Khan is in the movie officially still a rumor as far as TrekMovie is concerned? I’m confused. (Insert “confused” smiley here.)

God I hope its NOT Khan!!

As I’ve mentioned before, perhaps Cumberbatch is playing Joaquin ( from Space Seed )…perhaps the Klingons destroy the Botany Bay and most of the augments’ sleeping pods including Khan Noonien Singh’s.
Joaquin is rescued by the Federation and swears bloody revenge and assumes the mantle of ‘Khan’…

It’s as good an explanation I can think of to ‘explain’ Benedict as Khan…

If Nimoy weren’t in the film and the powers that be wanted to dispel the rumor, Nimoy could flatly deny it.

If Khan weren’t in the film and the powers wanted us to know it, they would have flatly denied it.

My bet’s on the rumors being true, but I also suspect a major Khantortion.

Someone asked boborci, on another thread, if this stuff had been intentionally leaked, if I recall correctly. He answered emphatically, “No.” Orci obviously can’t reveal all and has to have a little fun with us–look what we aim at him–but I flat-out lie–don’t think so.

Do you think the chest that Montalbon wore is in good enough shape that Cumberpatch can wear it or will they just make a new one?

Col. Green said it best in TOS’ “The Savage Curtain”:

“Don’t let prejudice and rumors sway you….” ;-D

To 35.

You DO realise that Montalban’s chest was real ( only shaved )?

I’m feeling less and less sure about the villain being Khan now (and happily so). It sounds to me like they didn’t get their initial choices for the role, thus they modified the role to fit the actor.

Also, there’s no writer’s strike this time. They can make last minute changes to the script if need be (unlike ST09, which was locked).
Just my guess.

So, the Khan rumors may very well have been true, but for earlier versions of the script. And before another round of Khan “I told you sos” begin remember; these are just rumors, and nothing more.

That being said? I’m still hoping the villain is not Khan and that Nimoy (much as I admire him) is not in the movie. That’s all.

38. Sebastian S.
I second everything you are saying. I could be wrong, and it could still be Khan Noonien Singh, but I think they have modified the role to fit Cumberbatch…he may be playing ‘Khan’ but not THE Khan…

I moving on from Khan (true or false) and just hoping that Klingons are indeed featured prominently, that is as long as they are portrayed as worthy adversaries, not just space pirates.

The fact they were keen to cast Demian Bichir. lead me to suspect that were originally looking for someone to play a younger version of Montalban’s Khan ( there is some resemblance between the two – and between Demian Bichir and Nestor Carbonell, someon often cited as a fan favourite to cast a Khan ).

Perhaps there was some elasticity for the role, to allow it to be modified should their original choices fall through ( as it seemed to have done ).

Now, for the life of me, I cannot imagine Benedict as a younger version of Montalban’s character, but I can DEFINITELY imagine him as Joaquin Weiss/Joaquim from ST:WRATH OF KHAN…

Apologies for the typos – and they ARE typos, not poor spelling/grammar!

Too bad. I would have loved to see him again especially as Spock Prime but I also would have enjoyed him in another Vulcan or Human role in the next ST.

That’s IT!. I Khan’t take it anymore.

# 41

Spock Jenkins~

Jai posted (in the rumors thread; the one reaching or exceeding 2000 posts) a theory that maybe Khan is altered or disguised somehow shortly after revival. I added that perhaps the Klingons or Peter Weller’s villain find him first (before Kirk and the Enterprise) and agree to surgically alter him to avoid identification (which sealed his fate in TOS “Space Seed”). My guess is Khan woke up and realized he was still a ‘wanted man’ and enlisted his rescuers’ aid in helping him somehow…

If that were the case? I’d be OK with Cumberbatch as Khan (as he’d be more like Bond’s North Korean adversary in “Die Another Day”).

At any rate? The Khan thing (and the Nimoy thing) are still just rumors.

So Nimoy is flatout denying a filmed role now then its unlike him to lie (he’s a vulcan after all!!) so perhaps the Khan reports are also untrue (I hope so).

I wonder if Paramount execs understand how much damage using the character of Khan would actually cause if its true because Khan would damage the buzz as few trek fans want to see him again as he was played to perfection already in the best movie of the series (the one they can never ever equal).

The smart thing to do now would be tell us what is not true you can keep the other secrets but to limit damage the wise people @ Bad Robot/Paramount need to understand tool ittle info can & often does cause damage (look at how little buzz Spiderman prequel is not getting as Sony rebooted something that did not need it then try to force it down the fans throats. Well Khan in ST2013 feels like that to me we need to know if its true or not as if true perhaps they can change it before it reaches post production otherwise it will not expand the box office at all if anything it will go backwards a little).

45.
That too is a very plausible scenario, but as you rightly point out, until we know for sure it is all just speculation – fun speculation.

I wouldn’t get to a point like so many who are condemning the decision to use Khan ( if indeed the rumours are true ), until we the fans have seen further aspects of the movie. I just hope whatever they do, they pull it off – and if they are going back to Khan again ( literally, or in spirit ), I hope they will be able to validate their decision with a brilliant story.

I am intrigued by Benedict’s casting, and hope they will use him wisely…

With ST 2009, I was extremely disappointed that the writers fell back
on the time travel crutch again. It is such an overused device, but I figured that once they used it to reset the playing field we would finally be free and do something new. Now I hear that Khan has been confirmed for the next movie? If this is true, what the heck happened? What was the point of resetting the Trek universe if they’re just going to go back and rewrite the old adventures? Don’t people want to see something new, without relying on characters like Khan as a crutch? I know I sure do.

Once again, I’m terribly disappointed if this is true. I’m hoping that it isn’t though, and that it all turns out to be a huge decoy concocted by JJ to throw everyone off the scent. I have a feeling he is pretty miffed about all of the set photos being leaked, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this has all been masterminded as a huge distraction.

45- I don’t dislike your story idea, but that would make this spoiler VERY spoilery, in the context of watching the film and never being surprised when his identity is revealed if that’s the route the writers wanted to go.

Or perhaps conversely, we will be lead to believe he is Khan, only to reveal that he isn’t, in the end.

Maybe it’s not Khan at all. Could be Sybok. Anyone check Cumberbatch’s ears?