Home Has Benedict Cumberbatch's villainous role in STAR TREK 2 been revealed (Again)?

Has Benedict Cumberbatch's villainous role in STAR TREK 2 been revealed (Again)?

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Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I think that either JJ Abrams is running an uncharacteristically leaky ship, or he is just playing all of us like some third rate videogames. We’ve thus far heard a number of stories as to exactly who Benedict Cumberbatch will be playing in the sequel, and while most of them seem to be flip-flopping between a the possibilities of a certain i-khan-ic character, a new name just entered the fray.

And despite the fact that, just like previously, none of this is substantiated with any evidence, the obligatory SPOILER WARNINGS are in effect.

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STAR TREK: FIRST SPOILER CONTACT

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STAR TREK: DEEP SPOILER NINE

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STAR TREK: THE SPOILER PICTURE

Karl Urban, who plays Bones in the new rebooted movie series, is currently busy doing promotional rounds for Dredd, and while speaking to SFX Magazine about the film, he also mentioned what it was like working with Cumberbatch, the acclaimed TV actor:

“He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.”

His what now?

For those of you who are not devout followers of the Church of Rod and Berry (You see what I did there?), that name probably means nothing, but as die-hard trekkies know Gary Mitchell was the name of a character who appeared in the 3rd episode of the original series, titled “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. Originally intended to be a pilot episode, it featured actor Gary Lockwood in the role as an old Academy friend of Kirk who develops godlike abilities of telekinesis and telepathy, after the Enterprise gets exposed to a strange energy while travelling through Milky Way galactic barrier on a mission to track down the fate of a different starship investigating Extra Sensory Perception.

He becomes increasingly more powerful and delusional, prompting Spock to suggest killing Mitchell. Kirk chooses to rather preserve the life of his old friend, marooning him on a uninhabited planet, Delta Vega (which actually already made an appearance in Abrams’ 2009 film) but when Mitchell goes on a rampage, Kirk is forced to eventually kill him.

Now all of that actually sounds pretty decent for a villain, and is certainly the type of character that would be right up Cumberbatch’s alley. In fact, it fits rather well given his character’s outfit seen in the on-set pics, as well as his character’s lack of resemblance to Khan Noonien Singh, the other rumoured villain who just last month pretty much everybody was convinced was Cumberbatch’s role.

There’s just a couple small problems.

We recently linked to a JoBlo story where screenwriter Robert Orci revealed a list of names of classic Star Trek characters that will definitely not be in the upcoming sequel, and you know who’s name was on that list? Yep, Gary Mitchell.

Also, in the IDW comic book spinoff from the 2009 film, on which Orci is the creative director, Mitchell’s character was already killed off in an adaptation of “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.

So either somebody there are a couple of very confused actors and writers running around on his set or JJ Abrams is busy turning into the Verbal Kint of Hollywood. Either way, with more than a year to go, it’s still going to be some time before we even see the first trailer. And going by Abrams’ record of how he cuts trailers, it’s still no guarantee that we’ll learn anything more from them either.

In meantime, you can go familiarize yourself with the character by watching the entire “Where No Man Has Gone Before” online for free.

Last Updated: July 10, 2012

2 Comments

  1. ST: First spoiler contact, deep spoiler nine and the spoiler picure…haha, nice one!

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      July 10, 2012 at 14:00

      Wait until you see my spoiler warning on my Spider-Man article later.

      Reply

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