After months of speculation, disinformation, and a teaser trailer and first poster that left us with no clues but much spectacular imagery, Paramount Pictures has finally revealed, perhaps inadvertently, the identity of the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch in next summer’s blockbuster sci-fi sequel Star Trek Into Darkness via the release of a new official still from the still.

Supposedly the character’s name was revealed in a caption included with the photo. You can check out the still and caption here below.

According to Trek lore, Harrison was the name of an Enterprise crew member who appeared in fourteen episodes of the original series, including the classics “Balance of Terror” and “Space Seed.” The latter episode introduced audiences to the iconic Trek villain Khan Noonien Singh, played by the late Ricardo Montalban. Montalban would reprise the role in 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, by far the finest of the big-screen Trek adventures. Harrison was played in the series by noted extra Ron Veto.

This could all be a well-orchestrated smoke screen on the part of the studio and director J.J. Abrams, who just loves toying with his audience – often to little or no effect, as Abrams very rarely has any genuine surprises in his bag of storytelling tricks. Early reports from screenings of the 9-minute preview say nothing of the character Cumberbatch is playing. An official confirmation plus a new theatrical trailer are both said to be coming in the immediate future. This endless speculation is getting to be pretty tiresome. At this point I care little for who the villain is or if he is even a villain at all just so long as the movie is great.

Star Trek Into Darkness beams into theaters in 2D, post-converted 3D, and IMAX 3D on May 17, 2013. A preview of the movie’s first 9 minutes will begin playing this weekend in front of select IMAX 3D screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. You can check a complete list of theaters playing the preview here.

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[Source: /Film]