Benicio Del Toro Might Be Playing…Somebody In "Star Trek 2"

J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars With Star Trek Character Names In It” did pretty well in the box office, so, of course, Paramount is talking sequel. And J.J. Abrams just confirmed that, yeah, they’re talking to Benicio Del Toro to play the bad guy.

But who’s the bad guy? He isn’t willing to talk about that.

The rumor is that Khan shows up in the sequel, which is a terrible idea for three reasons:

• Paramount, do you really want to cling to the fans so badly you’re willing to straight-up remake a movie? You obviously wanted to shift this franchise to the mainstream and away from the hardcore fans…so why waffle? Just make him a Klingon.
• You really, really do not want to remind people of the one old-school Star Trek movie that everybody actually likes, and still holds up amazingly well. Especially since Nicholas Meyer, being an Oscar winning screenwriter and respected director, made a movie far better than J.J. Abrams will ever produce in his lifetime.
• You will be lucky to survive the Great Trekkie Siege of Los Angeles if you announce you’re going to remake the most beloved two hours of your entire franchise with some hack who can’t even produce a decent “Godzilla” knockoff. Seriously, I’m building siege engines in my backyard so I’ll be ready to join the troops as we march on your studio to burn it to the ground.

[ via MTV, which chased J.J. Abrams around the Moons of Nibia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round perdition's flames before he gave them an interview ]