Trekkies have every reason to be excited about the upcoming threequel of the rebooted “Star Trek” franchise now because the cast just keeps getting bigger and better.
It is unclear whether Benedict Cumberbatch will return to reprise his role as Khan, but Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk and the rest of the USS Enterprise crew are expected to face a new enemy in “Star Trek 3“. This was further proven by Variety when they broke the news that Idris Elba could be portraying a villain in the 3rd “Star Trek” film.
Idris Elba is best known for his role as Heimdall, the Norse deity and the guardian of the burning rainbow bridge between the world of men and the world of gods in Marvel‘s “Thor” film series. He is also known for portraying drug lord and aspiring businessman Russell “Stringer” Bell in HBO TV series “The Wire” and Nelson Mandela in biographical film “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”. Through his role as Detective John Luther in BBC One series “Luther”, he was nominated thrice for Golden Globe Awards, winning once for “Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film”. He has also been nominated 4 times for Primetime Emmy Awards.
Elba appeared in a number of Hollywood films too, including “American Gangster”, “Takers”, “Prometheus“, and “Pacific Rim“. In addition to his acting work, he is a hip-hop soul musician and a DJ under the moniker DJ Big Driis (or Big Driis the Londoner).
Sources told Variety that Elba just entered talks to appear in “Star Trek 3” and rumour has it that he may be playing a Klingon, which is said to be the main villain in the threequel. His representatives did not respond for comment.
Elba will be seen next in Cary Fukunaga’s “Beasts of No Nation” and “Bastille Day” opposite “Cinderella” star Richard Madden. He is also set to appear in “Avengers: Age of Ultron“, Disney’s “The Jungle Book” and indie film “A Hundred Streets”.
The reboot of the “Star Trek” film series was previously directed by J.J Abrams and co-written by Roberto Orci. It was previously reported that Orci would direct the final instalment of the “Star Trek” trilogy with 2 new writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. However, he decided to remain as the producer of the film alongside Abrams, Bryan Burke, and Skydance’s David Ellison.
“Fast & Furious” veteran Justin Lin came aboard to helm the project based on a screenplay written by Simon “Scotty” Pegg and Doug Jung. Pine and Pegg will return to star in the film alongside Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, and John Cho. The production is set to begin this June before its release on 8th July, 2016.
(Source: Empire Online / Featured image)
