Star Trek Beyond: Simon Pegg Reveals Jennifer Lawrence Inspired New Character

Publish date: 2024-03-18

Jennifer Lawrence: inspiration to many.

For one, “Star Trek Beyond” co-writer and star Simon Pegg, who revealed in a press conference Thursday that the new character Jaylah, was inspired by Lawrence in the film “Winter’s Bone.”

“We were trying to create this very independent character. But we didn’t have a name for it,” Pegg said. “So we just called it ‘Jennifer-Lawrence-In-Winter’s-Bone.'”

“That’s a long name,” the writer and actor joked. “So it started getting tiring always saying, well Jennifer-Lawrence-In-Winter’s-Bone is fighting here. So then we started calling her J-Law. And then she became Jaylah.”

In the film, Jaylah is played by Sofia Boutella. Pegg said in the same press conference that she is a welcome addition to the “Star Trek” crew.

“We love Sofia, she’s a nutcase and a golden edition to this group,” he said. “There are not a lot of girls in Star Trek. Zoe [Saldana as Uhura] has a lot on her shoulders.”

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Saldana return for “Star Trek Beyond,” directed by Justin Lin.

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Earlier this month it was revealed that John Cho’s character, Sulu, would be the film franchise’s first openly gay character. Pegg and Lin made the decision as a nod to George Takei, who played Sulu in “Star Trek: The Original Series.”

Variety critic Owen Gleiberman wrote in his review that Lin “brings his bravura action energy and a certain nostalgic flair” to the film, although he, “unboldly goes where too many have gone before.”

“Star Trek Beyond” hits theaters on July 22.

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