Not in the old timeline . . . . (Not that I actually think she's Carol, but I'm not sure why people keeping citing trivia from another timeline. None of that is binding anymore. It's a whole new ball game.)
Cochrane is definitely a wild card character, he could end up going in all kinds of directions. I think this would be a more fitting ending than what TOS gave him. And the Companion may have warped his mind a bit too, told him for centuries that he was alone because of earth and only she cared for him. He's insane and bitter.
The more importan question is... Is there a kind of villain that had not been done if we take into acccount the books and comics too?
An original type of villain? From the trailer I don't think we're getting an original type of villain. Having my vengeance and all that.
It's an intriguing thought, but if they were going to use Cochrane, I half suspect that they would have cast James Cromwell to reprise the role. I see no reason to think that the producers have been lying all along about the villain being someone we're familiar with. The idea that he's someone who wasn't villainous in the original timeline is an intriguing one, but I'm sticking with my theory that it's Garth.
I've been loath to the idea of a Khan re-hash ever since the rumor broke, preferring originality over re-treads and that hasn't changed. Khan had his fifteen minutes, leave him dead, IMO. But I'm finding, if a retread is all they could come up with then the idea of it being Gary, Garth, Green, even Cochrane, (^ ) who-ever, could make for an exciting Trek adventure in the Nuverse. Despite my growing anticipation over this new Trek I will be severely disappointed if it turns out Khan. Just the thought of hearing his name said again in a brand new feature makes my skin crawl. I've endured a great many heartbreaks over decades of relationship with Star Trek but a Khan rehash here may be the final straw which turns me into a foaming Hater!
One thing I have noticed is the the character seems to tie in strongly with Spock. the glass scene in the Japanese trailer is supposablly Cumby and Spock, not Kirk and Spock as mentioned be someone that has seen the next trailer. Also, Cumby looks just like a human version of Spock, the body and the dark hair. So what if the 'Enemy Within' happened with Spock and not Kirk?? Spock was split into a Vulcan side and a human side (Cumby). It's and interesting senario. It also explains why JJ can't publicly name the villian yet.
If they wanted to do original characters, why bring back Kirk and Spock and the rest? the game plan is reviving old characters (and other major things like planets and starships) and mixing it up enough that new stories can be assembled out of the old parts. Works for me. As long as the story is new, there will be dramatic tension.
Yeah, the more I think about Khan, the less I think Cumberbatch’s playing that character. JJ’s always been about making Trek accessible. If I was trying to do that, the last thing I’d do was have my existing fan base drooling over the “best Trek bAD GUY EVAR!!!!!!!” </point>
Actually, there was a bridge officer named Harrison in TOS. Cumberbatch's shirt has the Starfleet insignia. So he's not an original character, just an incredibly obscure one.
Then again, "Harrison" is a relatively common name, and Cumberbatch's Harrison could be a completely different person than the TOS extra named in Space Seed.
Interesting: Lt Harrison (Ron Veto) appeared in 27 episodes of the original series compared to Lt Kyle (John Winston) who appeared in 11.
I may be wrong, but I don't think Ron Veto's character's name was ever 100% positively attributed to him as being 'Lt. Harrison". From what I understand, the only mention of Harrison's name was in Space Seed, and even then it was not 100% positive that Veto's character was the one referred to as "Harrison"... ...In the scene when his name was mentioned, Khan had turned off the air supply to the bridge, and the people on the bridge were all going unconscious. Kirk was almost unconscious, but was giving a log entry (possibly his last before he dies) in which he was giving commendations to the bridge officers -- the camera was panning over TWO bridge officers lying unconscious while Kirk said "commendations to...Technicians First Class Thule and Harrison". However, because both were on the screen simultaneously, we can't be sure which was Thule and which was Harrison -- although if Kirk spoke the names in order that they were sprawled out around him, Veto was Harrison. ...by the way, the sources of information I saw (memory-alpha and IMDB) says that Veto was in 13 episodes, not 27.
Amazing quite how much all that speculation about how it ABSOLUTELY HAD to be a big name canon character was a waste of time. Hilarious really