Star Trek into Darkness, who is Cumberbatch playing?

I guess it’s not surprising for someone who writes a science fiction site but I am a bit of a Trekkie. I don’t dress up and I can’t speak Klingon but I do like the show and have done since I was a kid and Kirk was snogging and punching everyone in sight. I have mentioned that I frequently work for the Syfy channel and we are currently showing The Next Gen in HD, which is pretty damn cool. It’s probably my favourite of the Trek TV shows. After the TV show Enterprise finished humanity entered a dull existence where there was no Star Trek being made for TV at all! The world has become a worse place as a direct result of this.

Thankfully though, there are at least some utterly brilliant films coming out thanks to JJ Abrams. Well, so far one utterly brilliant film but at least 1 minute’s worth of Star Trek 2 is great. As you will see in the Star Trek Into Darkness trailer below Hollywood has done something unusual and unique: cast an Englishman as the baddie. The big question on the net is who exactly is the memorably named (and brilliant) Benedict Cumberbatch playing? Two favourites have emerged.

The first is a character called Gary Mitchell who appeared in the original series. He was a friend of Kirk’s who developed telekinetic powers (and general psychic stuff) and went a bit mental until James T had to slap him into place. Arguments for this include the fact that Mitchell was in Starfleet, he isn’t Indian (see below), and Abrams is more likely to follow stories from the TV show as opposed to the movies as it allows him more scope.

The second – Khan Noonienh Singh. Khan (according to backstory) controlled a quarter of the planet during some far off war in the 1990s. He is genetically engineered to be brilliant at everything. After the war he is put into suspended animation until brought back by Kirk and crew. He tries to take over the Enterprise until Kirk slaps him into place. THEN, in Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan, he comes back and tries to get his revenge on Kirk. In a mad twist of events, Kirk slaps him into place.

Watch the trailer and see what you think. To me, the action seems a lot more like Khan. But how will they do the backstory? Also Cumberbatch looks, well, like a pasty Londoner as opposed to an Indian. But, as some have pointed out, if you can be bothered to find the very slightly longer Japanese trailer there is an extra scene of Kirk and Spock holding hands up to opposing sides of a glass wall. Like the end of Wrath of Khan when Spock dies. Personally I find it unlikely that they will follow the original Star Trek 2 so closely. 

Keep in mind that in the last film Abrams blows up Vulcan, so maybe this story has nothing to do with any of the original tales. Maybe Cumberbatch is just an angry fellow.

See what you think. Here the trailer or possibly the teaser for Star Trek 2! Engage!