Star Trek 2 news has been scarce as many movie bloggers recently clung to the news the film would not be called Star Trek 2, but instead would carry a subtitle as pretty much all Star Trek film sequels have. However, today does bring us an actual bit of news as Variety reports director J.J. Abrams has decided he wants Benicio Del Toro to play the film’s as yet unnamed, mysterious villain.
The site does say an official offer has not yet been made, but he is expected to be offered the role soon, perhaps by the end of this weekend. The report goes on to say Abrams has thus far kept the role a secret from Del Toro despite having already met with him.
Should Del Toro sign he will be among a small group of newcomers to the principal cast as Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Karl Urban are all expected to return as members of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
The mission the film will follow is still up in the air. When last I reported on the film it was revealed a series of comics will be released prior to the film that will foreshadow events in the movie. Screenwriter Roberto Orci said of the plan, “As we get closer to the next movie, the stories will begin to foreshadow the events of the movie, such as possibly introducing new characters we will see onscreen… pun very much intended.”
Either way, I expect things to come together soon as the film was originally slated for a June 29, 2012 release but will now likely hit late 2012 or summer 2013 with production expected to start in early 2012.
