Idris Elba’s ‘Star Trek Beyond’ Villain: What Does Simon Pegg Think?
Idris Elba will be Star Trek Beyond‘s new villain, and he won’t be bringing back memories of Khan. Simon Pegg has stated that the next film, which he helped write, is deviating from the critically disappointing previous film. Of course it’s hard to tell this from the trailer we’ve seen.
Andre “Black Nerd Comedy” Meadows said in a review on the trailer that Beyond doesn’t feel like Star Trek, instead seeming to make a Fast and Furious movie out of the franchise. This is mostly due to Justin Lin taking the director’s chair after the departure of J.J. Abrams, who left after Into Darkness to direct the last Star Wars. Justin Lin was the director of four previous Fast and Furious films, and Andre believes the transition hasn’t worn off yet.
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Simon Pegg has stated that Star Trek Beyond is attempting to bring back the feel of the classic series, though it’s yet unknown how that will happen with the soft reboot series technically making it more action, leaving behind the whole “men in uniform standing around and talking” feel of the older films and TV series.
Idris Elba is said to be part of what will make Star Trek Beyond a step toward what fans are expecting. Technically, if you mourn the loss of the classic feel of the franchise, you might want to just stick with Wrath of Khan and its follow-ups.
Star Trek Beyond writer Simon Pegg says that this film will begin the five year mission “to explore strange new worlds and new civilizations,” and “boldly go where no-one has gone before.”
“It was something that we thought about a great deal going into the writing process. We always had agreed that the Enterprise would be off on its five-year mission, as well as making a film that lots of people could go and see and say, ‘Hey what’s this Star Trek?’ And then go back 50 years. For the people that have been there for 50 years it was fun to make something that they would see as part of that continuum.”
Being a soft reboot, Star Trek utilized the late Spock actor Leonard Nimoy as a bridge to make the new Chris Pine series simultaneously a sequel and a reboot. He traveled back in time to escape a villain intent on making him pay for his perceived wrongdoings, and ended up mentoring his old friend and younger self.
This would technically make Idris Elba’s Star Trek Beyond villain possibly the first to not connect the franchise with the past. Simon Pegg even stated that Idris Elba is making the character his own, but at the same time, working with the crew.
“Idris had so many good ideas to help shape it. He’s the actor you want to work with. He’s collaborative, and he does what he’s told.”
Simon Pegg Opens Up About Idris Elba’s ‘Ostentatious’ Villain In Star Trek Beyond https://t.co/D3TJ53vRDl via @MTVNews
— Pegg News (@simonpegg) April 12, 2016
This could also be good news if Idris becomes the next James Bond. While Daniel Craig took the character in a different direction from previous versions, Idris Elba may challenge our perception of what makes him James Bond.
It’s unknown what Justin Lin is planning on doing with the new Star Trek, but the trailer we’ve seen tells us it’s not giving up on the action-central theme any time soon. With a different kind of villain being promised by the Pacific Rim and Thor actor, Star Trek Beyond might even win over the fans who can’t let go of the classics.
[Image via John Phillips / Getty Images]
