Jordi Molla To Play The Villain In Riddick Sequel

Vin Diesel in Riddick
(Image credit: Universal)

It would seem that Jordi Molla lost out on his chance to play a major baddie in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek sequel. While the actor was in contention for the part after Benicio del Toro turned it down (along with Edgar Ramirez), news came down last week that the part actually went to Benedict Cumberbatch. But for all of you who are sad that they won't get to see what Molla could do causing mayhem in outer space, I have good news: you may be able to see just that in the next Riddick movie.

Variety has learned that Jordi Molla is in talks to play the central villain in the untitled follow up to Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick. It was reported just a few hours ago that Katee Sackhoff, best known for playing Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica, has also signed on to star in the film. Molla will play Santana, the leader of a group of mercenaries that have been sent out to find and kill Riddick, who will once again be played by Vin Diesel. Molla is best known for playing Diego Delgado in Ted Demme's 2001 film Blow and most recently played alongside Zoe Saldana in Olivier Megaton's Columbiana. The upcoming film, which is currently in production, is being written and directed by David Twohy.

Molla was the only thing I actually liked about Columbiana, though I'm curious to see how Twohy uses him in the film. He's not exactly known for playing over-the-top, bombastic characters, so maybe he'll just be the level-headed, military-minded leader that's hunting down Riddick. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.