If you’re anything like me then you were scratching your head at the name Benedict Cumberbatch. I feel bad for the guy, growing up with a name that weird must have been hard. But after looking him up I realized that I’d seen him several things. He’s certainly got a face that’s hard to forget, even without knowing his strange name. So the announcement that he is the new “lead villain” for Star Trek 2 is definitely exciting.
While we don’t have any more details about the role, like whether or not Chris Pine will be yelling about Khan, knowing that they have a capable actor behind the wheel is certainly reassuring. I have to admit the first thing that I remembered him from was Atonement, where he played a pedophile who likes young girls. But he was also in The Other Boleyn Girl as William Carey, the guy who marries Mary Boleyn (Scarlett Johannson) just before the King takes a liking to her. He’s currently on the BBC show Sherlock, playing the legendary detective opposite Martin Freeman’s Watson.
But the real reason that I’m so happy to see him in the next Star Trek is the role he will be playing in The Hobbit- he’s going to be Smaug the dragon and the Necromancer. His motion capture performance and voice will bring the two characters to life, and what a life they both have. Smaug the dragon is a really cool character in the book, and the Necromancer is eventually revealed to be Sauron in disguise.
Sorry if I spoiled that little plot detail for you, but it’s all over the internet already. That’s one of the many joys of mass communication, when it involves a popular story nothing can ever be a surprise. So the longer that J.J. Abrams and company can keep the production of Star Trek under wraps the better. Although I doubt whether they will be able to keep Benedict Cumberbatch’s role a secret for very long, Trekkies are too passionate and impatient to wait until the movie premieres for confirmation that the beloved Khan is in the film. So until the announcement we will simply have to practice spelling the lead villain’s name.
What do you guys think about Benedict Cumberbatch as the lead bad guy, or perhaps as Khan?
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