Pegg: Cumberbatch is not Khan

In an interview in The Telegraph, Simon Pegg dismisses the rumors that Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Khan for Star Trek sequel that is currently in post-production by saying "Its not Khan. That’s a myth." Besides dismissing this character theory, he also spoke about the film and his fellow British actor while maintaining the Trek cone of silence. Speaking of Cumberbatch, below is a video from the BAFTAs where he called working on Star Trek "one of the best four months of my life."

“This time we had the benefit of being able to hit the ground running – we spent some time in the first one re-establishing the characters. Now we have a fully set-up group of people that we can just get on with straight away. So it ups the ante slightly, and we’ve all had more to do. So it’s totally incumbent on us to not drop the ball. It would be a disaster if it wasn’t as good as – or better than – the first one.” Is there more screen time for Scotty? “He’s in it from the beginning. In the last one I was the last member of the crew to be ‘discovered’ and brought in. So in this one, we’re all together from the top.”

Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as a villain. Pegg is full of praise for Cumberbatch’s baddy, whom he describes as “not just another disgruntled alien. It’s a really interesting… sort of… thing,” he squirms. “Obviously I can’t talk about it.” Given internet rumours that Cumberbatch has been cast as Kirk and Spock nemesis Khan, will this be a very different “wrath of Khan” from the 1982 film of the same name? “It’s not Khan,” replies Pegg, annoyed. “That’s a myth. Everyone’s saying it is, but it’s not.”

Is that misinformation from the famously secretive Abrams camp? “No, I think people just want to have a scoop. It annoys me – it’s beyond the point to just ferret around for spoilers all the time to try to be the first to break them,” says Pegg, a fanboy’s fanboy who wrote an autobiography called Nerd Do Well and who seems to have forgotten that part of the thrill of being a comic book/film/sci-fi fan is about getting as many details as possible in advance. “It just spoils the film,” he complains. “It masquerades as interest in the movie but really it’s just nosiness and impatience. You just want to say, ‘Oh f--- off! Wait for the film!’”

I will be really surprised is Khan is the villain of the film mainly because I get the impression that Abrams and company want to do something "new" while still giving fan nods to what came before. That means new villain, new story, new characters with a touch of the familiar (like my theory of Alice Eve playing Yeoman Janice Rand). Still, at least as written, I can't help but wonder why Pegg is annoyed by the attmept to learn the character's identity if everyone is guessing wrong. An incorrect theory that people are confident does an excellent job of keeping secrets as people tend to quit looking for a replacement theory. Besides, the very first trailer or related toys will reveal the news long before the film comes out.