Abrams Wants Benicio Del Toro As Next ‘Star Trek’ Villain. Nice.
I haven’t thought of Benicio Del Toro much lately, but J.J. Abrams has. He wants him to be the villain in the next Trek flick, and that’s fantastic by me.
For Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, director Nicholas Meyer knew he needed a larger than life, imposing personality to play the lead villain Khan. He, of course, went with Mexican born actor Ricardo Montalbán to play the role he originated on the show. In the new Star Trek sequel, director J.J. Abrams is said to also be eying a debonair actor from a neighboring country to plague the Starship Enterprise: the Puerto Rican born Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro. Variety reports Del Toro has met with Abrams and will soon be offered the mystery role of lead villain in the upcoming sequel to 2009′s Star Trek.
Thanks to Variety for the scoop. The only other tidbit in their story is that, reportedly, Abrams wouldn’t tell Del Toro what the role is when they met. Frankly, I find that hard to believe – Del Toro is an Oscar-winner after all – but the film is certainly a high priority, secretive project in the J.J. Abrams mold of things so who knows. The offer is said to be going out this weekend.
Who Del Toro would play, however, is anyone’s guess. Could it be Khan? Seems feasible. Could it be a bad-ass Klingon? That makes sense too. Or maybe, much like in the first film, he’ll just be a brand new character like Eric Bana’s Nero. Only Paramount, J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof know for sure.
What do you guy and gals think?