Idris Elba Talks Playing STAR TREK BEYOND's "Groundbreaking" Antagonist

Idris Elba Talks Playing STAR TREK BEYOND's "Groundbreaking" Antagonist

Unsurprisingly (given that it's a JJ Abrams production), we still know very little about Idris Elba's villainous role in Justin Lin's Star Trek Beyond. However, the talented Brit recently shed a little light on his incoming antagonist, and had plenty of encouraging things to say about his role.

News
By Minty - Sep 25, 2015 07:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Star Trek
Source: MTV

Not much is known about Idris Elba's villainous role in Star Trek Beyond. The British actor himself has kept very quiet on details. However, while promoting the upcoming release of his latest film Beasts Of No Nation, he had some very encouraging things to say about his mystery antagonist. "Simon [Pegg] and the team have written a very interesting, complex journey for my character," he told MTV. "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," he continued, "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." He also teased a few additional story details. "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."

This relaunched Star Trek series has seen two solid villains so far in Eric Bana's Nero and Benedict Cumberbatch's John 'Not Khan' Harrison. Do you think Idris Elba has the potential to be the best yet? As always, be sure to sound off with your thoughts below!

Following a two week delay, Star Trek Beyond now hits theatres 22 July, 2016.
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soberchimera
soberchimera - 9/25/2015, 8:00 PM
I still can't believe they whitewashed Khan in Star Trek Into Fartness.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 9/25/2015, 8:01 PM
I'm confident he's gonna KILL IT! Phenomenal actor. One of the best today.





Also: This man cool as shit! He makes putting on gloves dope.
marvelstudios
marvelstudios - 9/25/2015, 8:14 PM
Looking forward to this. The first 2 were pretty good.
KingEmperor
KingEmperor - 9/25/2015, 8:22 PM
Is he going to be a Klingon?
ALegendaryPanda
ALegendaryPanda - 9/25/2015, 8:24 PM
He's gonna be freakin awesome as a villain! Idris Elba can do pretty much anything.

Also really looking forward to seeing him in Beasts of No Nation
GhostDog
GhostDog - 9/25/2015, 8:47 PM





ELBA FINN GET AN OSCAR FOR THIS RIGHT HERE!
MrAisA
MrAisA - 9/25/2015, 8:59 PM
Klingon
AlphaDean
AlphaDean - 9/25/2015, 8:59 PM
I hate these movies, its not Star Trek. Simon Pegg is getting writing credit for this. Now I know I could care less
soberchimera
soberchimera - 9/25/2015, 9:33 PM
@MexicanSuperman Yeah, but did they have to cast the palest actor in Hollywood to play an Indian ubermensch?
BlackStar25
BlackStar25 - 9/25/2015, 9:49 PM
...I still want him as Bond. T-T
AlphaDean
AlphaDean - 9/25/2015, 10:03 PM
@mexicansuperman. Yes the previous films were better. I'd watch Star Trek 5 before I endorse these mindless action romps as Star Trek. Trek has always had more sci-fi slant, something cerebral to them. The movies are visually stunning and nothing more... If I want sci-fantasy I'd watch Star Wars. You can keep these reboots.
McGee
McGee - 9/25/2015, 10:11 PM
I would have no problem with white British Khan if they explained why he looked and sounded so different. Because remember...this isn't a complete reboot. The timeline is still the same up until the USS Kelvin blew up. So Khan should still look and talk exactly the same. If this was a straight up remake of Star Trek, I wouldn't mind Khan being visually inconsistent. Hell, switch Khan's gender. Make him a black woman.

Another problem I had was that they could have easily made Cumberbatch an original villain. He could have been John Harrison, Starfleet Officer gone rogue. Disillusioned with what his government was doing. It could have been a nice allegory with the current political climate, which is what Star Trek has always been known for. Relevant social commentary.
McGee
McGee - 9/25/2015, 10:30 PM
As a Star Trek fan, a part of me is also jealous because I've seen behind-the-scenes photos of Ewan McGregor being painstakingly made to look like Alec Guinness. Everyone is a Star Wars fan. JJ Abrams said he preferred Wars to Trek growing up. So I'm not surprised to see him enthusiastically embracing the look and feel of those old movies.

Star Trek was always the "nerd franchise" and so it isn't surprising that there aren't a lot of filmmakers that would show the same level of love and respect to the Trek mythology. I'm sure Justin Lin is a huge fan of Star Trek...specifically the films made by JJ Abrams...

Still, I can't complain too much. Not since the early 90s has Star Trek been this popular, and it's thanks to Abrams. And they went out of their way to get an actor that looked like Leonard Nimoy for Spock.

...but I suspect that's only because he shared a scene with "future" Spock and they wanted to be consistent...
McGee
McGee - 9/25/2015, 10:33 PM
Wait a minute...I'm white??? That's awesome!!! :D
McGee
McGee - 9/25/2015, 10:57 PM
Yeah, a lot of us Star Trek fans thought Khan was sort of shoehorned into 'Into Darkness'. Khan was always one of Trek's most prominent villains too. If you're a Star Wars fan, imagine Darth Vader haphazardly thrown into a Star Wars film, but with none of his iconic and recognizable traits...so I guess the prequel films?

I thought Cumberbatch was great as the villain. But he never felt like Khan...like at all (aside from being arrogant enough to state that he was genetically superior). Khan was always very charismatic and often had a deceptively disarming nature to him. He didn't like going for the easy kill like Cumberbatch did, often relishing in the misery of his enemy. Even when he blamed Kirk for killing his wife, he wanted him to suffer...for all eternity. The real Khan probably would have killed Carol Marcus in front of her father and said something to the effect of "You took something from me, now I take something from you."
kakinurmawth
kakinurmawth - 9/26/2015, 12:46 AM
Love Idris Elba. Bring it.
DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 9/26/2015, 2:12 AM
Kruge.
SuperCat
SuperCat - 9/26/2015, 5:33 AM
bropous
bropous - 9/26/2015, 5:34 AM
@McGee, three thumbs up!!!

Yes.

Cumberbatch should have been an original villain, or perhaps some character like Gary Mitchell, as some have said. Hell, make him the little kid who likes Tranya!

But overall, I do find the new Star Trek films entertaining, but I do not like the "reimagining" of the Star Trek universe. I would have far preferred moving forward 110 years after TNG/DS9/Voyager. Going back to redo the original series in film was pretty intellectually lazy.

I would have liked to have seen something set in the "Enterprise" storyline, though. I really enjoyed that series.

Or, hell, give us a "Through a Mirror, Darkly" film. THAT would be VERY interesting, if done right.

But Cumberbatch still did one hell of a job.

Can't wait for Oct 9 when my preordered DVD of Age of Ultron arrives!
four20smoke
four20smoke - 9/26/2015, 5:48 AM
WAIT!!.... MEXICANS ARE WHITE PEOPLE????


MIND BLOWN!!!
KillEmAll
KillEmAll - 9/26/2015, 5:58 AM
Kang?? It would be an interesting to see him play a decent of Ben Sisko. It's coming out during the 50th anniversary celebration so it's going to have to be huge.
McGee
McGee - 9/26/2015, 6:41 AM
Gary Mitchell would have been awesome! Mark Walburg playing him would have made a lot of sense too seeing as how he looked like him.
McGee
McGee - 9/26/2015, 6:42 AM
Yeah Donald Trump. You can stop hammering us Mexican Latinos now. We cool.
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