Sequel Bits: ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Villain Speculation And Other Talk, Plus ‘Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes,’ And ‘The X-Files 3’
Clearly some of the biggest movie talk today involves theories on just what theStar Trek Into Darknessteaser trailermeans. More specifically, what character doesBenedict Cumberbatchplay? Is he a version of the famous baddie Khan? A take on the classic TV enemy Gary Mitchell? Or someone else altogether?
That image above is one of several pieces of “evidence” that Cumberbatch might be Khan, but it is by no means conclusive. In addition to that, after the break we’ve got:
With the “announcement trailer” forStar Trek Into Darknesshitting late last night, we got our first real look at the secondJ.J. Abramstake onTrek. Some of the costume details worn by Benedict Cumberbatch are leading to speculation that he really is playing Khan, or a riff on the character at least. (See the “ruffles” in both costumes, as shown in the header pic.) The hands-on-glass still from the Japanese version of the teaser (seen below) also really echoes the end ofStar Trek IIdoesn’t hurt — if Cumberbatch is Khan, then could this movie end in the same way asWrath of Khan, and in doing so putprevious commentsfromZachary Quintointo order?
There are also reasonable theories that the bad guy is Gary Mitchell, andHollywood.comis one of the sites with a good rundown of reasons and examples.
In addition, the trailer really highlights the “into darkness” angle, with a distinct lack of the hope that has always been a core part ofTrek. The Russian title for the film, as it turns out, isStar Trek: Vengeance, which was also an early alternate title for the film. This Russian teaser poster (below, viaTrekmovie) shows the title treatment, which the local distributor for the film says “will make perfect sense, when you’ll see the movie.”
Vengeance is a concept clearly reflected in the first teaser for the movie, leading many to focus on the idea that this film will be much more “dark” than other Trek projects. (And helping theWrath of Khanspeculation.) But I wonder about that being marketing smokescreen. While I expect the darkness will characterize the second act of the film, I’d also expect to see a big hopeful surge at the end. (Unless Abrams & Co. are really apingStar Trek II, in which case all the hope will have to be in the third film.)
While we’re on the subject ofStar Trek,Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander Riker onStar Trek: The Next Generation, has talked about the idea of bringingTNGcharacters into the J.J. Abrams films. He very optimistically says,
I am very hopeful [for a big-screen TNG reunion]. I’m not sure where we would be – I happen to be a fan and a friend of J.J.’s and I think he’s rebooted the franchise in the most successful and wonderful way imaginable. And I’m really excited about the second movie. I think maybe some version of what they did with Leonard Nimoy in the first movie would be the way to go: they would pepper in one of us. I would imagine they’d start with Picard if they could. It would involve our usual time travel/quantum anomaly/black hole/some sci?fi version of how we all get there.
“Very hopeful” is about the only thing he could be, although “realistically pessimistic” might be better. [NBC PhiladelphiaviaTrekmovie]
In other “TV-to-screen” news, there has been continuing talk about a thirdX-Filesfilm to follow the 2008 releaseThe X-Files: I Want to Believe. That movie was a did, butDavid Duchovny, creatorChris Carter, and producerFrank Spotnitzhave all talked about a third film in the past, regardless. NowDen of Geektalked to Spotnitz again. The producer says “I’ve known for many years what I would like the movie to be and I’ve been talking to Chris Carter about it for many years, but there is no script.” He does explain, for those who haven’t followed along, that that the plot is based in “the climax of the alien colonization story that began the series.”
WithAndy Serkisdoing lots of press forThe Hobbit, the question of his other big film franchise has come up. And so we’ve got new quotes from Serkis on the role that Caesar will play inDawn of the Planet of the Apes:
The interesting thing now will be how Caesar operates in this world – because of the virus that hits at the end of the first movie – and how Caesar brings an accord between the apes and the surviving humans and that’s going to be interesting where we take that.
ComingSoonhas the quote, but it isBadass Digestthat theorizes that the film will go into deep sci-fi territory, as the Serkis comment about surviving humans leads Devin to think,
