'Star Trek Beyond' has cast Idris Elba in a new unnamed villainous role. Elba teased that his character will put a new spin to the cinematic series' classic villain. Meanwhile, the franchise will be returning to its small screen roots but will not tie in with the films.
According to /Film, Elba has joined the cast as the upcoming film's latest villain. Although details of his new character have been kept under secrecy as of the present, the 43-year old Golden Globe-nominee hinted that his mysterious antagonist will be "groundbreaking".
He said, "Simon [Pegg] and the team have written a very interesting, complex journey for my character. You've never seen me play a character like this. ... I think 'Star Trek' has prided themselves as being quite classic when it comes to villains, like 'he's a guy who wants to end the world,' there's no doubt about that. But in this version of the film, there's a slightly different twist to that. It's quite an interesting journey, which I think is groundbreaking for the franchise. But, it still keeps with the 'classic bad guy is a classic bad guy' tone."
Elba is best known for his role of a drug lord and aspiring entrepreneur Stringer Bell on the HBO series 'The Wire'. He also portrayed Nelson Mandela in the biographical film 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' and detective John Luther in the BBC One tv series 'Luther'. According to Treknews.net, he has joined the 'Star Trek Beyond' cast composed of Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Karl Urban as Bones, John Cho as Sulu and Anton Yelchin as Chekov.
According to Wired Magazine, CBS announced that they were developing a new television series for their VOD platform. The franchise first began in 1966 as a weekly television series on NBC. The new reboot is set to air sometime in January 2017.
It was reported that the new 'Star Trek' series will not be tied to 'Star Trek Beyond' for a potential shared universe and instead "will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations."
'Star Trek Beyond' is an upcoming science-fiction adventure film intended as the third installment in the rebooted cinematic series. It is directed by Justin Lin and scheduled to be released on July 22, 2016. It is considered the thirteenth film overall in the 'Star Trek' film franchise.
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