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While words have run rampant that Benicio Del Toro is set to play Khan Noonien Singh in the upcoming "Star Trek" sequel, J.J Abrams has claimed the otherwise. Slamming the swirling report, the director of the sci-fi film told HitFix that the rumor is "not true."

Rumor that Del Toro will tackle the villainous Khan in "Star Trek 2" was first brought to attention by Latino Review. The character itself was made famous by Ricardo Montalban in both 1967's TV Series "Space Seed" and 1982's film "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan".

Though it has been said that Del Toro is eyed to play a supervillain, details of the role are still kept under a very tight wrap. When asked to reveal what character Del Toro will portray, Abram insisted, "It's too early to talk about what the role is, but he's such an amazing actor."

"He's so versatile. He could sort of do anything. Except play Uhura. I wouldn't buy that," the filmmaker recently said to MTV. "As soon as we know it's going to be, and I'd love it to be him, that'll be public knowledge," so he promised.

"Star Trek 2" is expected to kick off the filming in early 2012 as it is scheduled to open wide in U.S. theaters on May 17, 2013. Though Abrams previously insisted that he didn't consider to shoot the film in 3D, it is reported that the sci-fi movie will be filmed entirely in 3D.

The untitled Star Trek sequel will bring back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana as James T. Kirk, Spock and Nyota Uhura respectively. It additionally stars Simon Pegg as Scotty, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov, Karl Urban as Bones, and John Cho as Hikaru Sulu.