Del Toro To Play Khan In Abrams' STAR TREK 2?

Hmmm. This rumor flies in the face of everything I have heard to date. Our friends over at LatinoReview have heard that Guillermo Benicio del Toro will be playing the infamous villian Khan Noonien Singh in J.J. Abrams' second STAR TREK film.

It's not that I don't believe the casting - it almost makes sense - it is more that I don't believe Abrams is going to go there. Despite the fact that Abrams' Star Trek universe is a different one than previous journeys, it is almost sacrilegious to bring Khan back. Ricardo Montalban's Khan from STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN is singularly the best villain from any Star Trek episode or movie and represents one of the reasons why ST2 was the best movie to date for the franchise (the death of Spock being the obvious other).

So why Khan? If it is true than I can only speculate that it is for commercial reasons. Perhaps the studio approached Abrams and said "We want Khan in this thing." To which Abrams said "No dice... Wait. How much? Yeah ok."

Personally I don't think Abrams is that sort of director. So I don't think this happens at all. My guesswork at this time. Besides, Abrams has already denied it.