Last month it was announced that Simon Pegg and Doug Jung had been hired to write the script for Star Trek 3, replacing Roberto Orci who was originally supposed to direct as well. However, it was not entirely clear if any elements of Orci’s original script would survive or if they would be starting from carte blanche. Now this week we have a new report concerning some of the new characters rumoured to be in the movie. Once again, we don’t know whether these are from the new draft or the old one, but we are hearing that the plan is to add at least three prominent female characters to the mix. They also reportedly have Bryan Cranston in mind to play the villain.

According to Film Divider, the villain of Star Trek 3 is being envisioned as “Bryan Cranston-like”, and in fact, Cranston has reportedly had some discussions with the studio about starring. It is unknown if an offer was actually made or if Cranston is even interested, but the success of Godzilla last summer has probably put him on a lot of wish lists. (Then again, he played the villain in the Total Recall remake and that didn’t help the movie much.) No word on whether or not this villain might be a new character or an existing one, but personally I’m hoping for the former.

As for the new female characters, it appears that Paramount is looking to make up for their questionable treatment of women in Star Trek Into Darkness (in particular, making Alice Eve strip down to her underwear). The new female characters are said to be the captain of another Federation ship (ie. a female counterpoint to Kirk), the President of the United Federation of Planets, and also Bones’ ex-wife. All of these sound like they could take the movie in some interesting directions, assuming they actually pan out. What do you think of these rumoured new characters? Would you like to see Bryan Cranston play a Star Trek villain?