For all of the talk of Star Trek Beyond placing the spotlight on frontierism and adventure – tenets considered to be fundamental to the franchise’s DNA – Paramount has no intention of chucking the baby out with the bath water, after it confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that The Raid and Fast and Furious 6 star Joe Taslim will join the ranks for Justin Lin’s upcoming sequel.
While details of Taslim’s role are scarce on the ground, THR notes that it is a “a key part opposite [Idris] Elba, who plays a villain.” Either way, given his action credentials, the addition of the Chinese-Indonesian actor can only bolster Beyond‘s line-up, and we’re excited to see how he fits into Justin Lin’s anticipated threequel.
Scripted by Doug Jung and Simon Pegg – who returns as fan-favorite Scotty – both writers have been vocal in the past about their desire to create a film that differentiates itself from the more commercial of J.J. Abrams’ previous two installments. For Jung and Pegg, that means gunning for the adventurous tone of the original Star Trek series, and though there’s little-to-no information to go on as of now, such an approach will likely mean pushing the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise into uncharted territory.
What will they find? Well, earlier in the year, all signs appeared to indicate that Luther and Thor: The Dark World‘s Idris Elba was in early talks to assume the role of the villain, though Paramount is yet to offer any official confirmation at this time.
What we do know for sure is that Vancouver is currently playing host to the production of the sci-fi sequel, with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, and John Cho all returning to the fray.
Star Trek Beyond will beam into theaters on July 8, 2016.
