Producer JJ Abrams has said the role of Chekov, played by Anton Yelchin who was killed by his own auto at his home last month, will not be recast. Their film, the third in the rebooted series, was coming out in less than a month and a rigorous press tour was imminent.
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For viewers outside the US, Netflix will be the place to find these new episodes.
‘It’s hard to even imagine it now, watching the film because he’s there, he’s alive… and I still can’t quite even begin to process the fact that we’re talking about him in the past tense. “If we don’t talk about it it’s like we’re ignoring it”.
“What better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of STAR TREK?” asks Star Trek editor Sarah Gaydos. His response, which came in the course of an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, elicited rebuttals from both co-screenwriter/star Simon Pegg and producer J.J. Abrams, the latter of whom dubbed Takei’s opinion on the matter “preposterous”.
Joining Fuller and Meyer will be Alex Kurtzman and Eugene Roddenbury who are the executive producers of the series.
Pegg and Doug Jung’s script adds a lot of surprising humor – Kirk doesn’t have trouble with Tribbles but does get into a amusing fight with some tiny Teenax. It wasn’t going to be easy. But the “Beyond” crew had an insanely short window to work with.
And though the action-packed trailers might suggest he simply launched that manic vibe into space, Lin and scriptwriters Simon Pegg and Doug Jung made a clever plot move that gives Beyond the most breathing room for its characters in years. They had to start filming in June.
There was already a crew in Vancouver waiting for directions on what to build for the set. No release date was announced, but the core cast will return alongside Chris Hemsworth – who played George Kirk in the 2009 original. “We’re executing Roddenberry’s intent, I think: infinite diversity in infinite combinations”. Lin showcases action chops honed on four “Fast & Furious” movies in the gravity-defying climax, where Krall’s origins are revealed – and none too soon, because the bad guy spends most of the film as a one-note foe devoid of Elba’s usual intimidating charms.
Moving on, Pine will also lead the cast of the fourth installment of Star Trek, which has been announced officially.
They sure don’t feel very starry or trekky. “And Tony has, as usual, done a brilliant job at not only bringing to life the characters as we know them, but adding new things and building out this timeline, which is really what the goal of the comics has always been”, he added. “We all had each other”.
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The series will live on, of course. But after a few days, Paramount followed suit and confirmed that Star Trek Beyond wouldn’t be the last film of the reboot series.
