From the halls of ComiCon in San Diego this weekend came news that the new Star Trek film coming in 2008 will have a new actor in the role of Spock – and his name is Zachary Quinto, the actor who plays the evil Sylar in NBC’s hit series, Heroes.
Leonard Nimoy, the 76-year-old actor who played the original Spock, also is scheduled to appear in the film in a different role. During the announcement at ComiCon, where Nimoy and Quinto appeared together, the elder Spock agreed with the decision to pass the torch, saying “it was logical.”
Directed and produced by Lost creator J.J. Abrams, the new Star Trek will be a re-imagining of the story that began more than 40 years ago as a low-rated NBC TV series that became one of the most cherished bits of science fiction lore. All of the major characters are being re-imagined and will be played by younger actors, most likely born after the original series had already been cancelled.
Along with Nimoy, Abrams said other original Trek cast members may be in the new film – playing different roles.
The new film has a script written by the writing team of Roberto Oro and Alex Kurtzman (Mission Impossible: III, The Island and Transformers). It is scheduled to open in U.S. and Canadian theatres on December 25, 2008.
