After months of speculation surrounding who (or what) Benedict Cumberbatch will be playing in Star Trek 2, the question seems to have been answered, and it’s not Khan. The reveal was made by Cumberbatch’s co-star Karl Urban, who slipped up during an interview to promote his upcoming fim Dredd.
In an interview with SFX, Urban was asked about what it was like working with Cumberbatch. Here’s his answer:
He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.
Star Trek fans will know that Gary Mitchell is a character from the original series, who was friends with Captain Kirk from the Academy but turned villainous when he gained “godlike, telekinetic powers”. In turn, Mitchell realised that he could use these to his advantage for the wrong reasons.
In the series, Spock advised Kirk to kill Mitchell but instead, Kirk chose to maroon him on a remote planet, which fails to hold him. Now, with anything JJ Abrams related you always have to be very cautious.
With his actors now promoting work that is non-Star Trek related before Trek 2‘s 2013 release, it is very likely he’s had them primed with fake answers as a cover up to leave audiences surprised. Or, Urban could have just messed up. Personally, I’m inclined to believe the former.
Abrams likes to play things very close to his chest and doesn’t want anything to be revealed before an audience gets a chance to see it. However, if this does turn out to be true, then Benedict Cumberbatch has been perfectly cast. The actor is probably best known for BBC’s Sherlock where he plays the famous detective who deals in mind games and deception, something that the Gary Mitchell character will also have in spades.
I guess we won’t really know until we see the actual film, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start speculating, right?
Star Trek 2 is due for release on May 17th 2013.
