A slew of new Star Trek Beyond photos and some footage taken on the set reveal the presence of a mysterious new alien being in the film.

Screencrush has both the photos and the footage, which were taken during the filming of an outdoor action sequence in Vancouver, where the movie has been shooting for the past month. The most notable element is the alien, played by Sofia Boutella (the girl with knives instead of feet on her legs in last February's Kingsman: The Secret Service), who accompanies Kirk (Chris Pine) as they escape from some sort of damaged ship.

Boutella is said to have a lead role in the film, although her character has not been named, and as far as I can tell she doesn't resemble any alien being seen previously in the films or TV shows. Is she an ally of the Enterprise crew? Also unknown, since the plot is completely top secret at the moment. They're shooting against a green screen here, so we don't even have any idea of the scene's background or context.

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The second major new aspect on view here are the new uniforms worn by Pine and Anton Yelchin as Chekov, who shows up along with Scotty (Simon Pegg, wearing the more traditional outfit). I'm guessing that the outfits are for away missions, since they feature jackets, boots and even kneepads -- not exactly standard gear for manning the bridge, I would imagine (see the full range of photos at the link above).

The costumes and action are fun to theorize about, but it's that creature played by Boutella that I find the most -- pardon the expression -- fascinating. Both Pegg (who co-wrote the script with Doug Jung) and new director Justin Lin have said that the new movie will delve a bit more into the exploration and ethics of the original TV series, so it stands to reason that seeking out new life and new civilizations -- where have I heard that before? -- might be part of the story this time around.

Star Trek Beyond, which also stars Zachary Quinto (Spock), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy), John Cho (Sulu) and Idris Elba as the movie's new adversary, comes out on July 8, 2016. Speculate below on the new alien being, the costumes and what the hell you think they're doing up there in Vancouver ...