Benedict Cumberbatch Denies Playing Khan in STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Star Trek Into Darkness, written by Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci and directed/produced by J.J. Abrams, is scheduled for theatrical release next May.

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

Benedict Cumberbatch is most well known for playing England's most famous detective in BBC's series Sherlock, and last year made his big-budget feature film debut with Steven Spielberg's Warhorse. Next summer he will appear as the voice of Smaug the dragon in second film of The Hobbit trilogy, but before then he will take center stage as the villain in director J.J. Abrams's Star Trek sequel. Little is known about his character, recently revealed to be named John Harrison, and speculation since early in the year has been that he is playing the infamous Trek villain Khan. Now that the film's first trailer has been released, Cumberbatch was free to discuss details about his role in the film:

"A few have asked [if I'm playing Khan] which is strange. I play a character called John and not that other name. It’s interesting. Speculation is speculation and that’s all fun.

"I play John Harrison who’s a terrorist and an extraordinary character in his own right. He’s somebody who is not your two-dimensional cookie cutter villain. He’s got an extraordinary purpose, and I hope that at one point or other in the film you might even sympathize with the reasons he’s doing what he’s doing — not necessarily the means and the destruction he causes. But it was a great ride, not just because he’s the bad guy and the antagonist but also because he has a purpose and it’s hard not to see his point of view at certain points.

Star Trek Into Darkness features the return of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Zoë Saldana, and Anton Yelchin as the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. They are joined by new cast members Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller. Based upon Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, the film is produced by J.J. Abrams (who also directs), Bryan Burk, Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The script was written by Alex Kurtzman & Robert Orci & Damon Lindelof. Jeffrey Chernov, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Paul Schwake are the executive producers. Star Trek Into Darkness is currently scheduled for release on May 17th, 2013 in standard, 3D and IMAX theaters.