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Benicio Del Toro Out of 'Star Trek 2' But Khan May Still Be the Villain

by Ethan Anderton
December 5, 2011
Source: Vulture

Well the rumor mill just keeps on spinning as production on J.J. Abrams' sequel to his 2009 franchise reboot Star Trek looms closer. Initially, we heard Benicio Del Toro was up for an unknown villain role in the film, and more recently conflicting thoughts on whether or not Del Toro would play iconic villain Khan Noonien Singh have been dominating the conversation. Well, now part of that equation seems to have been canceled out as Vulture has learned that negotiations with Del Toro have broken down as the actor and the studio could not agree on payment amount. However, the rumblings over Khan's inclusion still persist.

Though the report last week was quickly followed by a denial from Abrams himself, Vulture points out that Zack Snyder initially denied rumors that General Zod would be the villain in Man of Steel and now Michael Shannon is playing the comic book villain in his film. Honestly, as of now this is just the new biggest high profile game of telephone along with The Dark Knight Rises. Either way, Abrams is looking for a new actor to fill the villain role that will likely feature recently cast Peter Weller as an unknown older supporting character at his side, a detail mentioned when Alice Eve was cast in the sequel last week. For now, we'll take this with a grain of salt since there seems to be a lot of dissension amongst the ranks, but hopefully we'll have some official news soon as the actual production start date next year looms closer.

Filed under Casting, Development, Movie News

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