It speaks to the time we’re in that one person has their hands in both the rebooted “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” franchises, but it perhaps speaks more to the magic touch of J.J. Abrams. The filmmaker (who also has a “Mission: Impossible” movie under his belt) has provided the magic key to bring both properties back to the big screen, and quite successfully. Even as “Star Trek Into Darkness” fumbled, the early word on “Star Trek Beyond” is good. Not only does it look to be a well-received course correction, plans are already being laid out for “Star Trek 4.” But all this good news comes with a bit of sadness — the tragic passing of Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in all three films to date. And to honor his memory, the character won’t be returning or played by anyone else.
“I would say there’s no replacing him. There’s no recasting. I can’t possibly imagine that, and I think Anton deserves better,” Abrams told the Toronto Sun.
Presumably, this means Chekov will face his fate off-screen, but for right now, that’s still being sorted out. “I have thought about it, we’re working on it, and it’s too early to talk about it,” he stated.
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Meanwhile, on the “Star Wars” front, Abrams is taking a bit of back seat now that he’s done with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” He’s likely still giving input, but the story and series is pressing forward with new storytellers. That said, one can’t help but wonder what tale Abrams would like to see unfold down the line, and he recently shared his answer to that query.
“I gotta say Kathy Kennedy, who’s running it all, she seems to be pushing all the right buttons. There isn’t something that I’d love to see — I guess the one thing I would say is there’s a Knights of Ren story that I think would be pretty cool to tell,” Abrams told Collider.
File under Maybe One Day, but sure, it might interesting to learn more about Kylo Ren’s early, presumably less emo days under the guidance of Supreme Leader Snoke.
Let us know what you think about that a Kylo Ren spinoff in the comments section, along with “Star Trek” continuing without Chekov.