Here's Bill Hader's unique Star Trek Into Darkness cameo explained. Following the box-office failure of Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002, the big screen future of the series looked bleak. That's until J.J. Abrams came along with 2009's Star Trek, which took the original crew - Kirk, Spock, Uhura and all - and split them off on a different timeline from the classic series. The movie had great casting and action and proved to be a blockbuster. The resulting trilogy received mixed notices from longterm Trekkies, however.
Easily the most divisive entry was Star Trek Into Darkness, the 2013 follow-up. It's bizarre marketing campaign - which included flat out lying that Benedict Cumberbatch wasn't playing classic villain Khan - and a story littered with narrative and logical holes annoyed many, though it was still a hit. Justin Lin directed 2016's Star Trek Beyond and is arguably the best, playing like a big-screen version of a classic episode and it featured the warmth and interplay between the crew that was lacking in the previous entry. Sadly, it also performed the worst and has led to uncertainty about the Star Trek movie series moving forwards.
The Kelvin Timeline Star Trek trilogy irritates some fans for sidelining the more thoughtful, philosophical side of the franchise in favor of explosions and spectacle. Star Trek Into Darkness is particularly guilty of this complaint, though it's not without its merits either, including Cumberbatch turning in a great villainous performance. His enhanced human Khan was forced by Starfleet head Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller, RoboCop) to design weapons for him, which includes the hulking Federation ship the USS Vengeance.
Marcus' plan in Star Trek Into Darkness is to start a war with the Klingon Empire, with the Khan designed USS Vengeance built for that purpose. Fans of Bill Hader may recognize the voice of the ship's computer belongs to the actor too. It's a brief role and Hader revealed to Collider it was recorded in a hurry and was added shortly before the film's release. Hader is also a prolific voice actor, including playing lead Flint Lockwood in the Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs series.
Bill Hader wasn't quite as well known during Star Trek Into Darkness' original release, but his voice is harder to miss on a rewatch. While various ideas have been pitched for a new Star Trek adventure on the big screen, including a Quentin Tarantino helmed version, the next chapter is currently trapped in development hell.