Crave Online have posted the Q and A with Abrams from the TCA press tour, and although the Super 8 director doesn't say too much about his currently in production Star Trek sequel, he does comment on Benecio Del Toro and the role he would have played in the movie. No details of course, but he does confirm that whichever character he was being sought to play will still be a part of the story. He also says he has no immediate plans to incorporate any Next Generation characters into his movies..
Q: There was a little explosion online when you were trying to cast Benicio del Toro in "Star Trek 2." What did you make of that reaction?
J.J. Abrams: What do you mean?
Q: The speculation and pushback about his character.
J.J. Abrams: I was just happy that anyone was interested.
Q: Did you have to do away with the character you were going to cast him as?
J.J. Abrams: We haven’t made any changes because of casting.
Q: Do you have any interest in down the line introducing the "Next Generation" characters into your "Star Trek"?
J.J. Abrams: No plans, but, you know.
Ok, so the fact that the character Del Toro would have played is still in the movie isn't exactly surprising, but we can draw some interesting speculations. We know (unofficially) that he would have played the villain, and we believe that villain may well have been Khan. Now we know that Benedict Cumberbatch has replaced him as the villain (again, unofficially)..so whichever character it is, ethnicity obviously isn't an issue - therefore despite people assuming that since he is not Latino he must be playing a different character, Cumbernbatch may still be playing Khan Noonian Singh. Make sense? I may have to read over that again..
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