I haven't actually watched the new show or anything (no untagged spoilers in this thread, please), but this is the general vibe that I get from reading comments from people who have.
I think part of it too is 32nd century Trek has already done a lot of sociopathic, who’s-gonna-stop-me, “because I’m evil”-type villains, and we need someone a little more gray, or at least psychologically compelling; as seen with Gul Dukat and Kai Winn, you can still pull off interesting but pure evil characters.
