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SAN DIEGO - Zachary Quinto, best known for playing the villainous Sylar in Heroes, will don a pair of pointy ears to play Mr. Spock in the newest installment of the Star Trek feature franchise -- and he'll be joined by Leonard Nimoy, reprising the role that he created.
J.J. Abrams, who is directing the 11th Star Trek film, currently untitled, revealed the casting at the San Diego Comic-Con International confab. The actors joined Abrams onstage as he made the announcement.
Plot details were not revealed about the Paramount Pictures film, though it is believed to revolve around the first encounters between a young Spock and Capt. James T. Kirk at Starfleet Academy.
Abrams, the prolific co-creator/executive producer of Lost and director of Paramount's Mission: Impossible III also will serve as a producer and co-writer on the film, which is scheduled for a December 2008 release.
Quinto's credits also include the TV series So Notorious and 24.
Also at Comic-Con, Steven Spielberg appeared via satellite to announce that Karen Allen, who starred opposite Harrison Ford in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark, will appear in the upcoming untitled sequel to that franchise.
- REUTERS/Hollywood Reporter