Idris Elba To Play villain In New Star Trek Franchise

Not much is known about the as-yet untitled sequel to Star Trek Into Darkness except that it has an entirely new creative team behind it, as director J.J. Abrams and writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof busy themselves with other franchises. We probably know who’s going to play the villain, however, and that’s Idris Elba.

News of Elba’s involvement comes from Variety, whose sources say that the actor is in “early talks” (Hollywood speak for “unless we disagree over contract it’s a done deal”) to play the lead villain in Star Trek 3. An official announcement might not be far off, though it could always go the way of Benicio Del Toro declining to play the role of Khan in Into Darkness (the role subsequently went to Benedict Cumberbatch).

Returning cast members include the full bridge crew of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto et al., including Simon Pegg, who shares a writing credit with Doug Jung for this installment. While primarily known as an actor, Pegg’s writing credits include Run, Fatboy, Run, and, of course, all three films in the Cornetto Trilogy, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End, so we can at least count on the film having a great sense of humor and some awesome action sequences.