Pegg Denies Cumberbatch Role Rumors

[Temis the Vorta]

this already too-full cast.

I admit I'm scratching my head over that one, too.

It's too full if we want any real exploration of the regular characters other than Kirk and Spock. Poor McCoy got short shrift last time, and I'm wondering if he'll do any better this time around.

Kirk and Spock's arcs, plus more on Spock & Uhura's relationship, plus a new antagonist, plus the requisite amount of action - and that's your two hours. Trying to shoehorn Cumberbach's character in and a new antagonist, and you have to short-change something else. And it won't be the action.

It all gets back to the core problem of having Star Trek only in movies - there simply isn't enough screen time for the kind of character development I want to see. It's better than nothing, but frustrating.

Besides the regular Enterprise crew, we also had Khan, Joaquin, Carol Marcus, David Marcus, Saavik, Captain Terrell, and (briefly) Scotty's nephew.

Khan was the only one who needed much in the way of screen time. Movies always have smaller roles in addition to major ones. None of those characters deserve exploration like Uhura, McCoy, Chekov, Sulu and Scotty do.

Ditto for these:

Or, to choose a more contemporary example, the 2009 movie also featured Nero, Pike, Old Spock, Sarek, Amanda, George Kirk, and, arguably, the green girl.

Old Spock got enough screen time, Nero got as much time as he needed (as a villain, he was pretty weak - I'm hoping the villain is far more fleshed out this time - and there's more screen time getting eaten up). The rest, who cares? You can't even remember green girl's name, so I doubt you really care about her, either.

Why bother with the whole Botany Bay thing if Khan isn't being used?

The topic of the Eugenics Wars is interesting in its own right, and could form the basis of a good story, regardless of whether Khan makes an appearance. Having Cumberbatch play a character related to that period of time (a mad scientist type who was genetically engineering people?) is a reasonable idea.

 

[Franklin]

^^^^^^^^^^^
I'll agree in one sense: My personal preference would be to have the focus be mostly on the "big three" of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Somewhere between TWOK and TUC, the movies became almost an emsemble cast.
Call me selfish, but since we don't have too many more TOS character movies ahead of us (what, one more for sure? -- or as for sure as anything can be), I'd like my fullest moments with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Exploring other relationships or "giving everyone something to do" is using up precious time.

There, I said it.

 

[Therin of Andor]

since we don't have too many more TOS character movies ahead of us (what, one more for sure?...)

Paramount/CBS will churn out TOS movies while ever they make a decent profit. Whether the current cast and director go beyond a third film is a separate matter.

 

[Franklin]

since we don't have too many more TOS character movies ahead of us (what, one more for sure?...)

Paramount/CBS will churn out TOS movies while ever they make a decent profit. Whether the current cast and director go beyond a third film is a separate matter.

Another cast!? But Pine IS Kirk!

 

[Greg Cox]

Khan was the only one who needed much in the way of screen time. Movies always have smaller roles in addition to major ones. None of those characters deserve exploration like Uhura, McCoy, Chekov, Sulu and Scotty do.

Ditto for these:

Or, to choose a more contemporary example, the 2009 movie also featured Nero, Pike, Old Spock, Sarek, Amanda, George Kirk, and, arguably, the green girl.

Old Spock got enough screen time, Nero got as much time as he needed (as a villain, he was pretty weak - I'm hoping the villain is far more fleshed out this time - and there's more screen time getting eaten up). The rest, who cares? You can't even remember green girl's name, so I doubt you really care about her, either. .

But, like you say, these movies always have smaller roles and guest-stars. How do we know that Peter Weller's part isn't comparable to, say, Captain Terrell? Or that Alice Eve isn't playing the equivalent of the green girl . . . or Saavik or Carol Marcus?

Three or four featured guest-stars strikes me as par for the course, and certainly not excessive. And trimming the guest-stars doesn't necessarily guarantee more screen time for the likes of Sulu or Chekov. I mean, TMP only had Decker and Ilia and it's not like Sulu or Uhura had a whole lot to do . . .

 

[Sindatur]

Khan was the only one who needed much in the way of screen time. Movies always have smaller roles in addition to major ones. None of those characters deserve exploration like Uhura, McCoy, Chekov, Sulu and Scotty do.

Ditto for these:

Or, to choose a more contemporary example, the 2009 movie also featured Nero, Pike, Old Spock, Sarek, Amanda, George Kirk, and, arguably, the green girl.

Old Spock got enough screen time, Nero got as much time as he needed (as a villain, he was pretty weak - I'm hoping the villain is far more fleshed out this time - and there's more screen time getting eaten up). The rest, who cares? You can't even remember green girl's name, so I doubt you really care about her, either. .

But, like you say, these movies always have smaller roles and guest-stars. How do we know that Peter Weller's part isn't comparable to, say, Captain Terrell? Or that Alice Eve isn't playing the equivalent of the green girl . . . or Saavik or Carol Marcus?

Three or four featured guest-stars strikes me as par for the course, and certainly not excessive. And trimming the guest-stars doesn't necessarily guarantee more screen time for the likes of Sulu or Chekov. I mean, TMP only had Decker and Ilia and it's not like Sulu or Uhura had a whole lot to do . . .

You also have Noel Clarke and his family, too

 

[Greg Cox]

You also have Noel Clarke and his family, too

True, but, again, we don't know how big their parts are. Past films have been littered with minor guest-stars, including various Starfleet admirals, Romulan ambassadors, random scientists and colonists, etcetera.

Just because it's a known actor doesn't necessarily mean that they're a major character. Remember John Schuck as the Klingon ambassador in various films? Michael Dorn and Rene Auberjonois in ST VI? Tyler Perry? Mark Lenard. Jane Wyatt? Iman?

This is all sheer speculation, of course. I'm just saying that the announcement of four or five extra actors, most of whom are probably playing supporting roles, doesn't sound like a mob scene to me--especially compared to past Trek movies.

One more example, just to belabor the point. Suppose it's 1990 and we're looking at the cast list for The Undiscovered Country: Christopher Plummer, David Warner, Kim Cattrall, Rosanna DeSoto, Iman, John Schuck, Mark Lenard, Michael Dorn, Rene Auberjonois, Brock Peters . . . and that's not even counting the guys who played the Federation President, the Romulan ambassador, the Klingon prison warden, and Christian Slater.

Sound like a "too-large" cast? Maybe. But the movie turned out fine.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Probably just one movie after this upcoming one, yeah. I'm already expecting that nobody but Kirk and Spock will get any kind of significant development. Maybe Uhura will get some.

And if Cumberbatch is just a guest-star on par with some of those mentioned, he sure is getting more PR than is warranted by what's going to be a small role. Whoever is playing the "real" villain will have to be more prominent, but we haven't even heard who that will be (or that there's more important casting to come.)

 

[JWPlatt]

Is there a thread around here about what role Cumberbatch WILL be playng?

Just looking at the leaked photo of Spock's failed neck pinch, I'm thinking it's Gary Seven. (“not even Mr. Spock’s Vulcan neck pinch could stop him. Without our phasers he would have over powered all five us.”)

And I just did a search on that - it looks like others are speculating the same thing.

 

[Greg Cox]

Gary Seven seems like an extreme long shot. Again, I'm not sure why people are so convinced that he's playing a character from the original series. It's not like the previous films didn't feature plenty of all-new characters. Chances are he's some rogue scientist or duplicitious alien we've never heard of before.

Now watch me eat my hat when it turns out that he's playing Dr. Sevrin in the long-awaited remake of "The Way to Eden" . . .

 

[Kelso]

Now watch me eat my hat when it turns out that he's playing Dr. Sevrin in the long-awaited remake of "The Way to Eden" . . .

With hair!?!?

Excuse me, I have a few angry emails to write!

 

[F. King Daniel]

Is there a thread around here about what role Cumberbatch WILL be playng?

Just looking at the leaked photo of Spock's failed neck pinch, I'm thinking it's Gary Seven. (“not even Mr. Spock’s Vulcan neck pinch could stop him. Without our phasers he would have over powered all five us.”)

And I just did a search on that - it looks like others are speculating the same thing.

Another of the leaked shots from the same scene is Cumberbatch shrugging off Uhura's phaser blast, so I'd say "nu uh"

 

[Greg Cox]

Now watch me eat my hat when it turns out that he's playing Dr. Sevrin in the long-awaited remake of "The Way to Eden" . . .

With hair!?!?

Excuse me, I have a few angry emails to write!

They rebooted his follicles.

 

[JWPlatt]

Gary Seven seems like an extreme long shot. Again, I'm not sure why people are so convinced that he's playing a character from the original series.

Haven't TPTB said so? I've read articles that have them saying the character is from TOS, but not sure I've ever confirmed the sources.

 

[Mr Silver]

I'm still going with the idea that Cumberbatch is playing a character that has never been introduced in Star Trek before.

 

[JWPlatt]

Another of the leaked shots from the same scene is Cumberbatch shrugging off Uhura's phaser blast, so I'd say "nu uh"

Personal shielding? They've had time to improve.

There are also comments that Gary Seven isn't a "villain" as TPTB statements indicate, ruling him out. But I'd remind them that that was the TOS timeline...

 

[Greg Cox]

Gary Seven seems like an extreme long shot. Again, I'm not sure why people are so convinced that he's playing a character from the original series.

Haven't TPTB said so? I've read articles that have them saying the character is from TOS, but not sure I've ever confirmed the sources.

Have they? Or are any such articles just repeating gossip and rumors?

Which, I believe, has been known to happen.

 

[Mr Silver]

I think the only element of TOS (asides from the main characters obviously) that will be in XII is a cameo from Leonard Nimoy (who can't seem to stay retired!) perhaps in a scene where NuSpock is speaking to him over subspace.

It just seems lazy and out of character for KLO to rehash a well known villain.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Haven't TPTB said so? I've read articles that have them saying the character is from TOS, but not sure I've ever confirmed the sources.

IIRC, an early comment from the writers said that Alice Eve's character was "new to canon" and that someone we knew from Season One of TOS would be appearing.

So, that appeared to rule out Carol Marcus and Janice Rand - early suggestions from fans - and suddenly there was also wild speculation about guest TOS villains ranging from Gary Mitchell to Harry Mudd, Kor and Khan.

It's also been said that the IDW "Star Trek Ongoing" comic would be dropping easter eggs for the upcoming movie. It has already killed off Gary Mitchell, seeming ruling out his return in a movie, but a few references may be setting up events and relationships. The comic has suggested that McCoy and Elizabeth Dehner were once romantically involved (a good lead-in for a McCoy subplot?), "Cupcake" gains the name Hendorff (a canonical TOS character in "The Apple"), Yeoman Rand has made regular appearances, and so on.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

One more example, just to belabor the point. Suppose it's 1990 and we're looking at the cast list for The Undiscovered Country: Christopher Plummer, David Warner, Kim Cattrall, Rosanna DeSoto, Iman, John Schuck, Mark Lenard, Michael Dorn, Rene Auberjonois, Brock Peters . . . and that's not even counting the guys who played the Federation President, the Romulan ambassador, the Klingon prison warden, and Christian Slater.

Funny, two of the three characters whose actors you didn't name were also played by actors well-known to genre fans: Kurtwood Smith (as the Federation President) and W. Morgan Sheppard (as the warden of Rura Penthe).

Yeah, TUC had an amazing guest cast.

Sound like a "too-large" cast? Maybe. But the movie turned out fine.

It's actually always been my favourite. (I know, blasphemy...)

And if Cumberbatch is just a guest-star on par with some of those mentioned, he sure is getting more PR than is warranted by what's going to be a small role.

Has he, really? Or is fandom just making him out to be the main guest star because they're all so ga-ga about him in his other roles? Abrams et al. haven't really said anything. For all we know, Peter Weller may be the main bad guy pulling the strings that drive the plot. Or Noel Clarke.

People are assuming a lot. (I'm not saying the assumptions will definitely wrong, just that a lot of assumptions are being made with next to no evidence to support them, other than a couple of leaked photos of one scene... which says very little.)

Is there a thread around here about what role Cumberbatch WILL be playng?

Just looking at the leaked photo of Spock's failed neck pinch, I'm thinking it's Gary Seven. (“not even Mr. Spock’s Vulcan neck pinch could stop him. Without our phasers he would have over powered all five us.”)

And I just did a search on that - it looks like others are speculating the same thing.

I've been suggesting Gary Seven pretty much all along. Garth would be my second guess.