Not much is known yet about Justin Lin’s Star Trek Beyond, which shoots in just four weeks despite the fact that the first draft of Simon Pegg’s script has just been completed. Apart from a few new cast additions (like Idris Elba and Kingsman: The Secret Service actress Sofia Boutella) and an assurance that it will bring “frontierism and adventure” back to the franchise, everything’s been kept in the mystery box that J.J. Abrams set up for the first two films in the revamp.
Fast and Furious 6 helmer Justin Lin is taking the captain’s chair of the Enterprise this time around and recently revealed a bit about what we can expect from his take on the Trek universe in a new interview. He was unfortunately mum about the intimate details of what’s in store, but did give some incredibly encouraging insight into his own personal connection to the series and the path he’d like to see it take from here.
Lin established first and foremost that he’s a Trekkie through and through, and has been for his entire life:
“My dad worked 364 days a year, only took Thanksgiving off, and from age 8 to 18, the only time I could hang out with my parents was by staying late. And every night, it was Star Trek on Channel 13 in L.A. That was my childhood. All my friends were Star Wars kids but I didn’t go to the movies, so I was the Star Trek kid. Thinking about this, it became a very personal and very emotional decision.”
It’s great to hear that Lin wasn’t just hired for his ability to handle an action sequence, and that he’ll be as emotionally invested in the project succeeding as one could hope. It was never a secret that Abrams was more of a Star Wars fan than a Trek fan, which explains why he jumped from one beloved sci-fi project to the other. Lin explains that he’s a fan of Abrams’ take on the series, but feels that it’s time to finally boldly go where no one’s gone before:
“As great as JJ’s films were, there’s still a lot to be mined from these characters. They haven’t really gone on their five-year mission, so what we experienced in the TV show hasn’t been touched on yet. That sets up an opportunity for exploration and the deeper you go, the more you are examining humanity. Those are the things that I absorbed as a kid and hope to tap into and embrace and celebrate. By the time this movie comes out, Star Trek will have been around for 50 years.”
Part of moving forward means no longer rehashing classic Trek stories, which is what caused quite a divisive response to Star Trek Into Darkness. Lin promises that we won’t see such a thing in Star Trek Beyond and teases that we’ll even see some worlds and races that don’t come from Trek‘s five decade history:
“It’s all new and fresh. The Klingons, Romulans and other species are great, but it’s time to go further. It has been fun to focus on creating whole new worlds and species.”
Well, I guess that puts that long-running Borg rumor to rest, eh?
We’ll find out exactly what Lin has in store when Star Trek Beyond warps its way to theaters on July 8th, 2016.
