J.J. Abrams regrets Star Trek Into Darkness reveal

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Would rather have been up front about the villain

J.J. Abrams has been discussing Star Trek Into Darkness , and has revealed that in retrospect, he would rather have been up front about the identity of his villain (spoilers ahead).

Of course, Benedict Cumberbatch’s “John Harrison” was revealed to be none other than classic villain, Khan, a development that Abrams would rather have made clear from the get go…

“The truth is, I think it probably would have been smarter just to say upfront, ‘This is who it is,’” says Abrams. “It was only trying to preserve the fun of it, and it might have given more time to acclimatise and accept that’s what the thing was.

“It was so important to the studio that we not angle this thing for existing fans. If we said it was Khan, it would feel like you’ve really got to know what Star Trek is about to see this movie. That would have been limiting.

“I can understand their argument to try to keep that quiet, but I do wonder if it would have seemed a little bit less like an attempt at deception if we had just come out with it.”

Meanwhile, Abrams was also asked about Joe Cornish as a potential director for the third film, a notion he seems genuinely excited by.

“My guess is that’s up in the air,” says Abrams. “I adore him and love him and can’t wait to see what he does next. Hopefully it will be Star Trek . Whatever it is, he’s brilliant. Attack the Block was one of my favourite movies of the year when it came out.” We shall see…

George Wales
George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.