By Nathalie Caron, Source: Blastr.com
After months of endless speculation, we finally know which super baddie British actor Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek sequel. Are you guys ready for some major squeeing (or some cursing)?
Just to make sure: SPOILERS ahead!
Last chance to turn back.
Okay, right.
So, according to sources, the always-awesome Benedict Cumberbatch is playing none other than … Khan Noonien Singh! Well, no one ever saw that coming … just kidding, guys. The character was originally played by Ricardo Montalban in TOS episode “Space Seed” and again in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
The news just broke over at TrekMovie, who confirm that the Sherlock star has indeed been cast as Khan, the Eugenics War leader and Capt. James T. Kirk’s most memorable mortal enemy.
Here’s the bit that got us all excited:
TrekMovie has also confirmed this with a number of sources so we no longer consider it to be a rumor. Khan is back in 2013, however sources indicate that the film is not a rehash of “Space Seed,” the original Star Trek episode where Kirk and crew first encounter the genetic superman from the past.
While big news, this is actually not a huge surprise. Trek’s new filmmakers have often cited the Christopher Nolan’s Batman series as their model, with the second film The Dark Knight successfully brining back the Joker and Khan is the closest to Trek gets to Batman’s Joker. And again the team kind of already let the cat out of the bag on this one when they recorded the DVD commentary back in 2009 and said they had considered a post-credits sceene showing the Botany Bay, Khan’s sleeper ship. Then of course there is Abrams widely reported casting process which began with Benecio del Toro and went through a number other prominent Latino (like Montalban) actors before he ended up picking Cumberbatch, after what has been said to be a very powerful audition.
So what do you guys think? Are you even more excited about the upcoming as-yet-still-untitled Star Trek sequel than you already were? Are you even surprised at the confirmation that Cumberbatch is playing Khan?
