STAR TREK BEYOND Honors Original Series, Remembers Nimoy, Yelchin

With Star Trek Beyond opening in theaters nationwide next week, fans are dying to know what to expect from the new film. TrekNews.net attended a press conference on Thursday in Los Angeles with the cast and crew of the film, co-writer and actor Simon Pegg calmed the audience down by telling them that it will reflect the essence of The Original Series.

“We wanted to try to create a hybrid of the original series with a spectacular cinematic event,” Pegg told reporters. “We tried to make everyone who had been here for 50 years gets, in terms of a good Star Trek film. And, for the people who never seen it before, they’re welcomed too.”

Pegg, along with co-writer Doug Jung, spent weeks going over old episodes and Memory Alpha to place some Easter eggs into the film for Star Trek fans. “We just kind of, in the fan scope, thought it would be funny if we laid this in this,” Jung told TrekNewsnet. “We were having fun with it.”

Karl Urban, John Cho, Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana and Simon Pegg (photo: Laura Sirikul for TrekNews.net)

As for Leonard Nimoy, who passed away last February during the writing portion of the film, the movie does pay tribute to the beloved actor. Quinto, who plays Spock in the “Kelvin timeline,” found it very difficult to do the movie without him.

“I think it became important for all of us to honor his legacy and I thought Simon and Doug did a beautiful job to incorporate it in the narrative of the film,” said Quinto.

Karl Urban, John Cho, Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine (photo: Laura Sirikul for TrekNews.net)

Pegg added, “We wanted to make it part of Spock’s arch because that’s Spock’s arch, it’s just not a reference to Spock dying or what we did eventually, dedicate the film to him. We wanted to have it inspire our Spock to move on. It became an integral part of the story.”

Emotions became high when an audience member asked about actor Anton Yelchin, who passed away this past June. The cast reflected on working with the young star.

Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana and Simon Pegg (photo: Laura Sirikul for TrekNews.net)

Karl Urban said “It’s devastating to lose a family member and we’re at a point where we should be celebrating, not just this film, but this beautiful man, this talented man.”

“Watching the film and seeing Anton so alive and forever preserved, as he will be in all of his films, that’s something we should be happy about,” said Pegg. “We are going to get to see him again.”

Lindsey Weber, JJ Abrams, Justin Lin and Doug Jung (photo: Laura Sirikul for TrekNews.net)

Director Justin Lin recalled Yelchin’s energy on the set and always throwing ideas to him. He told the audience, “He’ll live on with me and I know with everybody that he’s worked with interacted with.”

JJ Abrams, Justin Lin and Doug Jung (photo: Laura Sirikul for TrekNews.net)

Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana

Directed by Justin Lin, written by Simon Pegg, Doug Jung, Roberto Orci, John D. Payne and Patrick McCay, Star Trek Beyond stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella and Lydia Wilson. The film will hit theaters on July 22 after premiering during San Diego Comic-Con on July 20.

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for the latest news related to Star Trek Beyond. Follow @TrekNewsnet on Twitter, TrekNews on Facebook, TrekNews on Instagram and TrekNewsnet on YouTube.