Abrams, Stars Promote Star Trek Into Darkness

For the last week or so JJ Abrams and some of the stars of Star Trek Into Darkness have been promoting its home video release. Most of the time they covered the same "you should see this movie" ground they covered when promoting the movie theater release but a few nuggets of interest were said. Eve talks about the underwear thing, Abrams answers questions on Khan & the video game, Peter Weller defends his character, and Kurtzman and Orci focus on story choices. Below are the links to the stories and segments I found interesting. My comments will be in italics.

Spinoff Online - JJ Abrams

I think the thing was that Khan really is the most iconic villain of the series, and it felt like an opportunity to see another side of Khan and to something that, like the first film did, use elements that people were familiar with but in a new. It’s a valid argument that it’s about time for them to go off and discover and see things that have nothing to do with what we’ve seen before, and I think we’ll always have some overlap. But I’m excited about the next chapter.

Weller: "I’ve got my own ship"

Another, mostly useless, hint for the Star Trek sequel that just finished wrapping as JJ Abrams moratorium on revealing spoilers remains in full effect. Trek Movie spoke with Peter Weller about his role in Star Trek when the actor was walking the red carpet for RoboCop 25th Anniversary Event at the Dallas International Film Festival. First he said, "I can’t tell you. I’m sworn to secrecy. It’s something very cool" Then they asked if he was wearing prosthetics he answered "No. do I look like an alien to you? No man. Let me put it this way. I have my own ship"

So there you go. Peter Weller plays a Captain. Probably a Starfleet Captain but even that isn't guaranteed. This does contradict Weller's agent saying he would play a C.E.O. but that can be dismissed as the agent simply not being a Trekkie and not knowing the terminology. Or he just got it confused with Weller's previous role in Star Trek: Enterprise as the owner of a mining station. Not much to work with but since a JJ Abrams production, you kind of have to live with the breadcrumbs that do come up.

Star Trek's Peter Weller Playing CEO?

Entertainment Weekly is reporting a few more details on the role that Peter Weller has been cast for in Star Trek 2013. It was confirmed that the actor was cast in the Trek sequel but no information was provided. “Of course J.J. Abrams is very tight-lipped about his projects,” said agent Todd Eisner, “but I do know that it’s a substantial role and that Peter is playing a C.E.O.” This is an interesting development that could mean anything since Star Trek never really explored the business side of the universe much outside of Quark's bar.

AICN has an interesting theory about the role; based on the assumption the movie will have Khan as the big bad, which remains an unconfirmed rumor. Their theory is he could be the CEO of the company that created Khan and his group of genetically-engineered soldiers. This means he could either be a Trek present day CEO demanding his "property back", in this case the S.S. Botany Bay and the soldiers it contains or part of a flashback that explains the origins of Khan. Something not explored in canon but told in detail via the book series "The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh" by Greg Cox. Considering sequel writer Roberto Orci is a fan of the many Trek novels, this idea does have legs. Again assuming the sequel has Khan in it.

Peter Weller Joins Cast of Star Trek Sequel

Deadline is reporting that Peter Weller (Robocop, 24) has joined the cast of the Star Trek sequel in "a principal role but one they would not specify." The news was confirmed by Weller's PR reps making him the first official new cast member for the sequel. Alice Eve and Benicio Del Toro are likely to join the cast but both are considered to be in the negotiating phase.