It’s been a little while since we heard anything about the upcoming Star Trek Beyond, due for release in 131 days (as of this writing).
The latest on the film is that reshoots are taking place. That isn’t unusual for a Hollywood blockbuster, but what is unusual is that they are adding a brand new character into the film months after principal photography finished.
Shohreh Aghdashloo has joined the cast of Star Trek Beyond as a either the CinC of Starfleet or maybe even the President of the United Federation of Planets. It’s a little unclear, with her character being described by Deadline and a number of Trek sites as the “High Command” of Starfleet. That’s a sentence that doesn’t make sense. “High Command” is a designation for an institution or organisation, not a position.
Whomever Shohreh is playing, we’ll no doubt find out soon. What is important is that she is an incredible actor with some impressive credits to her name.
The 63 year old Iranian born actor has starred in numerous hits, first coming to the notice of audiences back in 2005 in the fourth season of the critically acclaimed 24, where she played a terrorist to chilling effect.
She is currently starring in The Expanse on the SyFy Channel as politician Chrisjen Avasarala.
Shohreh has a Daytime Emmy Award to her name, as well as a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The House of Sand and Fog.
To read more about Shohreh, you can visit her Wikipedia page here.
What other changes are coming to Star Trek Beyond?
We don’t know yet.
As I mentioned above, it’s not unusual for a film to be tweaked close to its release date, but it is unusual a new character be added and filmed after the completion of principal photography.
Does this mean the 13th Star Trek film is in trouble?
Maybe, but not necessarily so.
The worst thing that might have happened is that a preview audience saw the film and hated a part of it. What most likely occurred was that the first cut was completed and Justin Lin and everyone else responsible for making the movie, felt it fell short in some area. That might explain the reshoots and the addition of a new character. Reshoots are more often than not a good sign and they can be an attempt to add an extra dimension or sense of depth to the story.
There is no doubt this film has everyone a little nervous… a new director, one of the actors co-wrote it, and it’s coming out in the 50th Anniversary year where expectations are higher than usual. There was also the disappointing performance of the first trailer released a couple of months ago which felt very ‘unTrek’ like. Justin Lin and Simon Pegg have attempted to assure us the film has not sacrificed story for action, but some fans were left unconvinced.
As more information comes to light, I’ll make sure to toss it up here.
I’m still looking forward to the 22nd of July, and even more so now that Shohreh Aghdashloo is involved. I’ve been a fan since 2005 and I am thrilled she’s now a part of Star Trek.
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