The British actor Simon Pegg has revealed to The Telegraph that the villain of the still-untitled Star Trek sequel won't be Khan Noonien Singh.
“It's not Khan,” said the actor, who plays Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott. “That's a myth. Everyone's saying it is, but it's not.”
Why, it is beyond me, but rumors began at the end of 2011, when Benicio Del Toro was said to be in talks for a role of a villain in the 2013 release. After Benedict Cumberbatch got the part, the avalanche has been started by a number of online sites ‘confirming' that the villain in question will be Khan.
In the original Star Trek universe, Khan, played by Ricardo Montalban, was a genetically engineered tyrant who seized control of much of the Earth in the 1990's during a conflict known as “The Eugenics Wars.” At the conclusion of his reign, Khan escaped the Earth in a starship, the Botany Bay, and was held in suspended animation with his crew until he was found and revived in 2267 by Captain James T. Kirk. The character returned to menace the crew of the Enterprise in 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Directed by J.J. Abrams, details on Star Trek 2 are as usually minimal, though returning cast members include Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban (yayyy!), John Cho, Anton Yelchin and Bruce Greenwood with new roles for Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller.
Based on a script by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof, the film will hit theaters on May 17, 2013.
