Star Trek: Into Darkness, releasing May 17th, is the new film directed by J. J. Abrams. The screenplay was written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof. This sequel to 2009's Star Trek looks like it promises to be a thrilling sci-fi action adventure. Early reviews of the film have been positive, with critics saying it was a "rousing adventure" and "a riveting action-adventure in space". Below, I preview the plot and the cast of the new movie, so only read on if you don't mind minor spoilers.

Plot

"After being called back home, the crew of the USS Enterprise find a seemingly unstoppable force which has attacked Starfleet and left Earth in chaos. Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise are tasked with leading the deadly manhunt to capture the party responsible and settle an old score. " - IMDB

Cast

Chris Pine reprises his role as Captain James T. Kirk, with Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Bruce Greenwood reprising their roles from the previous film. Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Weller and Alice Eve round out the film's principal cast.

Benedict Cumberbatch, star of the British series Sherlock, and voice of Smaug in the upcoming Hobbit sequel, was the source of many rumors on the internet leading up to this movie. When the first trailer revealed him as the villain of the movie, many claimed he was playing Khan from Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. This was justified by the above screenshot from the trailer which showed what was an obvious nod to Wrath of Khan.

A later trailer revealed that Cumberbatch wears a Starfleet insignia in some scenes, leading people to rethink the role of the villain. Many speculated that Benedict may be playing one of two characters from The Original Series, Gary Mitchell and Garth of Izar, who were both former Starfleet members, turned villain.

Later, Cumberbatch revealed in an interview that his character's name was John Harrison, and little else. But, if you go to the IMDB page today, Cumberbatch is still listed as Khan. Who knows what all of this means. It could just be cover up and the director would like to keep Benedict's role a secret. I guess we will just have to watch to find out.