Movie trilogies used to mean something. A few of them still do. There's the Back to the Future trilogy, the much more recent Dark Knight trilogy and, to a degree, both the original Star Wars trilogy and the prequels stand enough on their own that they count, too. But ever since Fox invented the term "quadrilogy" for the Alien franchise, and yet has continued past four titles anyway, the idea of a film trio is all but lost. Even while so many series (see Transformers) keep forcing groups of three movies within long-running franchises.

Well, not Star Trek. The other iconic sci-fi property with "star" in the title is fine being different from Star Wars and the rest. Maybe it's because it began as a TV series. Maybe it's because its first run of movies didn't really attempt to form a trilogy at first (Paramount has released a box set of parts two through four, which do involve a running narrative, however). But the rebooted franchise has no intention to close any sort of book on a three-installment arc with its upcoming third movie, Star Trek Beyond.

In the below video interview with our own Erik Davis, for Fandango, Beyond's writer and co-star Simon Pegg says it's just another Star Trek movie. Not as in "plain old" but as in its merely a new standalone episode featuring the same characters on a whole new adventure. It's not concerned with where they went with 2009's Star Trek or the follow-up, Star Trek Into Darkness. "It was another Star Trek movie," he says, "with which we wanted to embody the tenets and tradition of the show and its subsequent film adaptations."

That feels pretty fresh to hear in an age when movies are also over-serialized to the point that events that will happen in sequels are set up multiple installments ahead. Also fresh is the idea that Beyond isn't aiming for a nostalgic familiarity with its plot or villain. Following the criticisms regarding Khan's not-so-secret return in Into Darkness, the new movie really does seem to be introducing a whole new alien race and among this group a brand new bad guy.

"I play Krall," Idris Elba tells Entertainment Weekly. "This is a man with a definite purpose. I say a man, but he’s not a man. Or is he?" He says he's not a Gorn, that he's a new species. "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 sounds like a modern day terrorist, which is why it sound about right for him to be a character we haven't seen before. Other villains and alien races in Star Trek's past have represented real-life groups, though not always officially. Klingons have been aligned with the Soviets, Cardassians have been viewed as similar to the Nazis by fans, and so forth. Maybe Krall is like an Osama bin Laden or ISIS leader. We'll find out if he can be read that way when the movie opens on July 22.

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