Star Trek 4: 8 Villains We Might See
It's time for all-out Klingon war, surely?
Whilst the rebooted Star Trek films have all been well-received delights, a common criticism of the three films is that its villains have been rather lacklustre. Sadly, this summer's instalment in the franchise could be accused of the same flaw, despite having a brilliant actor like Idris Elba taking on villainous duties.
The reboot's villains, apart from Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan, have not really stood out or been a powerful presence. And even goodwill towards the rebooted Khan dissipated because of the whole "John Harrison" controversy.
There's all sorts of solutions to fixing this villain problem in the next film, and it starts with mining the Star Trek franchise's rich rogue's gallery for a villainous species, or a despicable individual, that is either memorable enough to reinvent, or obscure and ridiculed enough to show in a completely new light.
The Kelvin Timeline's Enterprise crew need an antagonist that is just as formidable a force as them, and there have been quite a few aliens over the last 50 years who could emerge from the shadows to threaten Kirk and his team like never before...
8. An Original Villain
On the one hand, the new iteration of the Enterprise crew should be facing new threats rather than rehashing what came before. But on the other hand, Nero and Krall were original villains that never quite worked.
Nero had a strong connection to Kirk and Spock in both the original timeline, and the current altered one. But Eric Bana mostly sat in a chair and raised his voice. But Krall had even more potential as an unknown threat, but got lost up in the fact Star Trek Beyond was an ensemble piece- everyone was having too much fun to see him as a significant threat. But Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan was a lot more formidable, pushing the crew to their limits.
A new villain can be someone that arrives out of nowhere simply because the Enterprise crew gets in their way. An emotionally manipulative villain, who can spoil the team's family dynamic and turn them against each other, is far more interesting than a bad guy with a grudge against Kirk or the Federation.
The opportunity to create a villain we've never seen before is tempting, and some new writers plus a shrewd casting director could bring us an antagonist unlike anything we've seen in the Star Trek franchise. Hopefully they will learn from what hasn't quite worked previously.