A year ago, we learned that Idris Elba had joined the cast of the next “Star Trek” movie (the 3rd one), playing a villain – an original character not from the existing “Star Trek” universe – that co-writer and co-star of the movie, Simon Pegg dubbed “a kick-ass role.”
The character has been kept mostly underwraps so there’s very little information on who he is exactly, what his motivations are, and where his loyalties lie. Although, last month, Elba did finally drop a few bits of info on the character, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, stating the following: “I play Krall. This is a man with a definite purpose. I say a man, but he’s not a man. Or is he? […] What’s interesting about him is that he has a real beef with what the Enterprise stands for. Krall’s a character who’s deeply steeped in hatred — in my opinion, a well-earned hatred — for the Federation. It felt quite political. There’s a relatability to what’s happening in our world. Not everybody’s happy with what everybody calls the good guys. Krall is predatory. He’s not one for big speeches. He is one for going to get what he wants. If that means having to do it himself, outside of his army, he is not afraid to do that.”
The interview came with the above photo of Elba’s Krall showing off his strength.
Previously, in a September 2015 interview with MTV, Elba, while doing press for “Beasts of No Nation,” shared the following about his role in “Star Trek Beyond” (as the new film is titled): “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.”
The actor added: “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.”
And he ended with: “It’s been hard work. I’ve been doing 18-hour days. It’s tough work, but I’m looking forward to people seeing this film.”
We get a quick glimpse of this “kick-ass role” in the below trailer. But if that’s not enough for you, a new set of character posters from the film have been released, and his character is included in the mix. So this is Krall… and yes, he obviously will be behind a lot of makeup for those who still weren’t certain of this. That’s Krall in the above photo as well, demonstrating his strength. I also included one of Zoe Saldana as Uhura.
Joining them are Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, and Anton Yelchin, all reprising their respective roles.
Justin Lin is directing this 3rd film, with J.J. Abrams producing.
Trailer:
