Star Trek News: Benicio Del Toro out, Peter Weller in
Variety reports that Peter Weller (the original Robocop) is cast, but doesn’t have any more info on his role.
UPDATE: Weller plays a high level federation leader. Khan is indeed the villain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s Sherlock), but also has the name of John Harrison. Star Trek 2 will officially be called Star Trek Into Darkness.
Vulture reports that Benicio del Toro won’t be in the film after all, because his deal talks broke down last week.
Vulture cites “a highly placed source” that says Khan is definitely the bad guy in the film. The site compares the situation here to the one in which Zack Snyder tried to downplay reports that General Zod would be in Man of Steel, before casting Michael Shannon in the role.
JJ Abrams will shoot the film in early 2012 from a script written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof, and we know that Alice Eve will also be joining the returning cast, which includes Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho,Anton Yelchin and Zoe Saldana.
Star Trek 2, or whatever the film will eventually be called, is set for release on May 17, 2013.
