Back in May we reported that both J.J. Abrams and Keri Russell dropped some hints that they would both be open to her being in the new Star Trek, but it seemed to just be usual celebrity log rolling. Russell was the star of Abrams’ first TV series Felicity and appeared in his first feature film, Mission: Impossible: III. In a new interview with TV Guide the actress reveals that there is actually some fire to the smoke. She says that she is in discussions on some film roles and that she talks to J.J. Abrams “all the time.” When asked specifically about a possible role in Star Trek she said:
We were trying to work something out already, but I don’t think that is going to work out…but something may work out.
What role could she have played?
Although it appears that Russell will not appear, it still brings up the question regarding the role for which she was being considered. The only known uncast female character is Kirk’s mother, but at 31 Russell is surely too young for that part. In his recent interview with TrekMovie.com, co-writer Roberto Orci hinted that there would be strong female roles in the film and also stated that there would be some ‘familiar faces’ from Trek’s past. Two immediate possibilities that come to mind are the two roles played by Majel Roddenberry Barrett: ‘Number One’ (Pike’s First Officer) and Nurse Christine Chapel. Another fan favorite could be Carol Marcus as Kirk’s love interest. And of course it could be a totally new character as well. So far the only female cast member is Zoe Saldana playing Uhura, so let’s hope we see some more women announced soon to balance out the male dominated cast.
Of course if Keri isn’t available, JJ can always call upon one of his other stars. Jen Garner recently said she is ready to boldly go.
Beam Keri Up? But as who?
See TV Guide.com for the Russell interview (h/t to Moviehole)
Carol Marcus would be my guess.
She does have that curly hair kinda like Dr. Marcus.
Or Janice Rand, though I would have thought Rand could be younger in the time frame of the film.
Carol Marcus would be my preference.
Janice Rand is a possiblity.
I wish they would show the sparks in the tragically-fated meeting of young Spock and Lela Kalomi.
Doesn’t sound like she’s going to be in it.
I’m kinda indifferent to the idea really…
The role doesn’ t matter, just seeing Keri Russell in a Trek project would be great. She’s such a lovely young woman.
Shame on you, Anthony, for not making that photo of her clickable.
I’m with the others here. Sign her to play Carol Marcus.
She’d be a great Carol Marcus…always wondered about the backstory behind her & Kirk was, and it would be the right time period.
Buck,
I am sorry…I have added the full sized version at the bottom of the article for your ‘review’
Personally I hope it is ‘number one’. NBC had that character axed because, god forbid, there would be a woman with real power in the future! And if you look at Abrams/Orci/Kurtzman/Lindelof’s work it is full of kick ass women from transformers to Alias to Lost to (of course) Xena. Bob Orci promised that women in this film will do more than just answer the space phone…and Keri would do just fine.
I would also go for Carol Marcus. I have always thought that Marcus broke Kirk’s heart…and since that time he became ‘married’ to the Enterprise, and of course a bad case of satyriasis. But all of that was compensating for his lost love Carol
5 – Leila Kalomi would be a fantastic role for her.
Add my vote for Carol Marcus!
The question is – does she have any chemistry with Pine?
So many movies crash and burn because of miscasting.
Frankly, I was never a fan of Felicity. She was a-ight in MI3, but I’d much rather have Maggie Q drop kicking someone in there instead.
As for Carol Marcus…I think there might be some better choices. Whatever female they choose, she has to be movie hot, not TV hot. For example, in Soderbergh’s Solaris, the female lead, McElhone, was pretty yes, but not movie hot. To me the leads have to be on equal footing. There has to be some semblance of chemistry. Zeta Jones was very much an equal to Clooney’s billing on Intolerable Cruelty. On Solaris, I just did not think there was any chemistry between the leads. Clooney acted his ass off, but could not save the picture. In par, I think, because of poor casting.
Now that’s just my opinion. Felicity is pretty, but if she had a photorp up her nose, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. Jessica Biel on the other hand. I’d bust a cap to see that movie.
Hey, don’t forget Ruth from Shore Leave! Personally, I’m half expecting to have the movie depict a young officer named Kirk dating both Carol and Ruth at the same time! Ooooh, a new first! Spock and Kirk first meet when the Vulcan walks in on Kirk having a three-way! Spock is tempted to join in, but concludes that it wouldn’t be logical!
Anthony, that is a great theory about Carol Marcus and the Enterprise. It makes perfect sense.
A thing some are forgetting Is Most of the film(set In the 23rd Century) will be set around the time Kirk first takes command of the Enterprise.With reports of a couple of scenes at Starfleet Academy my speculation Is Carol marcus.And this Is purely my guessing but on this mission Kirk runs Into her again,and discovers he has a son(with flashbacks showing their romance while Kirk was at the academy) and David had to be born by the time Kirk took Command.However If J.J. Abrams casts a Actress he has worked with Before I would prefer Jennifer Garner.
I’d love to see Carol Marcus…
But then, we also should have seen Gary Mitchell, and that doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen either…. DAMMIT.
I always assumed Carol was the “Blonde lab technician” that Gary steered towards Kirk.
Then again, she could be Ruth (Long shot, but hey…)
If Carol Marcus is in the script, how about Dr. Marcus’ (the late Bibi Besch) real daughter, Samantha Mathis:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000526/
It would be a cool familial link to TWOK. She’s 37, but looks younger. She was in an episode of LOST, coincidentally. Not that that’s any kind of Abrams qualification. Just saying…
According to her statement, something like that may work out if it hasn’t already worked out. Working something out my mean that she’d need to work out if it ends up working out.
Sounds like a “definitely maybe.”
Count me in the Carol Marcus crowd.
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
I’d love to see her as Carol Marcus, and I hope we get as many of the female characters mentioned as possible– Number One (hopefully she’ll get a name?), Chapel, and especially RAND. She only appeared in eight episodes but I loved the flirtatiousness she had with Kirk, kind of like Moneypenny in the Bond movies. It would be awesome if they did her beehive haircut too, obviously it isn’t “modern,” but I think it’s so over-the-top to begin with that they’d get away with it still.
Also would love to see a love interest for Spock, whether it’s Jen Garner or someone else!
I want her as the green alien the Batgirl chick played in the original TV series.
Bring her in as the green skinned alien chick, or the bald chick from the first movie.
Orion Slave girls you mean.
llia played by Persi Khambatta. Sadly she’s dead in life.
#9 Personally I hope it is ‘number one’. NBC had that character axed because, god forbid, there would be a woman with real power in the future!
WTF are you my twin brother because this is totally my suggestion too. So much for woman equality in 1960s and its about time we fix that.
I loved Keri Russel in Felicity and she would be great as Number one in XI movie.
..
Keri is too young and too small for Number One. Too old and too small for Rand, so my guess is “new” member or she’s a KLO [ Kirk Lust Object ]
To me Colt, Kelso, Leslie, Reily, DeSalle, and Kyle are the roles to get right. If these parts are played by ANYTHING less than MAJOR T.V. stars, then everyone will hate the movie!
;-]
[just kidding…. stop freakin’ out you geeks!]
“As a physician you of all people should appreciate the dangers of reopening old wounds.”
I hope it’s her.
LOL maybe she’ll do some stuff like she did in Starship Troopers HAHA
O.k., this may be off the direct subject of Keri Russell but does relate to casting. I had a potentially brilliant casting idea. I just watched Trouble with Tribbles and think that Jon Lovitz would make a great Cyrano Jones. I’m sure that there is no way sensible way to work in this movie maybe the next. In TWT we learn the Jones has been trading for 7 years which would fit into early missing timelines. Spoke also tells Under Secratry Barris “We know all about Mr Jones.” which could imply they have ran into him before. Any thoughts?
Correction from my last posting #29. That should be “would fit into early MISSION timelines.
Re: #9 “Personally I hope it is ‘number one’. NBC had that character axed because, god forbid, there would be a woman with real power in the future!”
According to Herb Solow in the book “Inside Star Trek” (probably the best of the behind the scenes TV Trek books), it wasn’t the idea of a woman in authority that miffed executives as much as it was the fact that Gene Roddenberry was trying to force his mistress, perceived to be a marginal actress, down their throats. As in the case of the “Scotty pushing drugs in Harlan Ellison’s original City on the Edge of Forever script” (when Scotty never even appeared in the script), Roddenberry was more willing to overlook the facts for the sake of a good story.
She’ll probably end up as Carol Marcus, Captain of her own Starship, and ‘McCoy’s’ ex-wife according to this new ‘timeline’… ;)
Spock’s wife (er…well, future x-wife). I’d love to see her as a Vulcan. She has the right face for it.
“Ruth…how could you possibly be here?”
From Shore Leave we find out Kirks old love interest.
To go back to the early days certainly bodes well that it should be from a time when Kirks assumes command of the Enterprise.
Thoughts Trekkers?
Harry, you echoed my thoughts. Ruth is the real obvious choice to me. Carol Marcus was a movie creation, Ruth directly tied to his academy days during TOS. These guys are major fans and it would be just like them to dig up that factoid instead of going for the obvious.
Plus Carol Marcus was such a bitter old wench (I suspect drawing on the personality of the actress who created her) that I would be quite happy to never see it again.
Carol Marcus for sure… she was quite tasty in TWOK and Keri Russel is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
Ruth? Ick, no way. “Jim, dahhhhling.” Carol Marcus is a much more interesting character. I, too, always figured she was that unnamed blondie lab tech. That’s gotta be it. And Russell sort of looks like a younger Bib Besch. Sort of.
It would be good to have some women characters who are senior officers to wash away that old 60s vibe of “only men can be captains.” Hey, has anyone mentioned Russel playing Janice Lester?
My vote is in for Carol Marcus. Think of it: they break up, because Kirk knows he’s going to be going into space in a command of his own, just knows it, after he goes to the simulator later that day.
Cut to: Kirk preparing to reprogram the Kobayashi Maru, and he asks the Vulcan who’s getting ready to go into the sim as the Science Officer to help him. After all, this Vulcan has an A-7 Computer Rating!
Felicity on board the Enterprise, no thank you!
JENNIFER GARNER for Number One!!!!
SCARLETT JOHANSSON for Janice Rand!!!!
CAMERON DIAZ for Christine Chapel!!!
JESSICA ALBA and ALYSSA MILANO for green orion slaves and Kirk’s love interests (he needs, no he deserves more than one!)
in the picture she looks like the caitian from st5
I see Keri Russel as Number One
I also Like no. 40’s suggestion but would put Johanson as a Green Orion Slave woman and Alba has Rand.
Here some more possiblities
How about Grace Park as a slave girl or Naughty Romulan???
Or Katee Sackhoff as Number One
or Lucy Lawless ( she has JJ connection no?)
and Tricia Helfer as Rand or Chapel
Well hey, why talk about actors when you can talk about sets?
Zachary Quinto talked to MTV; the link to their report is here:
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1572601/story.jhtml
And here’s what he said about the Bridge of the Enterprise:
“What about the actual new bridge of the Starship Enterprise ? Has it been built?’I’ve seen drawings of [the rebuilt bridge], and the drawings alone gave me chills,” Quinto said. “I think it’s going to be a pretty remarkable experience.'”
With her statement it sounds like two different parts and she more interested in the second one. With the chance both Number One and Nurse Chapel in the movie that would be something. It wouldn’t be the same actress playing both parts again this time, but Number One is on the Enterprise when Pike is captain and Chapel with Kirk when he is captain on the Enterprise afew years differents so I thought they will meet up.
I like Keri, so I’d like to see her in the movie… but if she can’t be in it, she can’t be in it, oh well. She could probably look like Number One or Christine Chapel before she could look like Rand… but with a wig, who knows. Carol Marcus is a good idea too.
We really DO need to see more women in this though… I wish they’d get Jolene back as T’Pol… she’d still look good in the 2240’s/2250’s. Wishful thinking.
I keep wondering about the other barely-known characters also… Boyce, Piper, Jose Tyler, Gary Mitchell, and any number of Kirk’s love interests from the past.
I just love keri Russell, anything she does seems to be awesome!
mmmmmmmm definately eye candy. She’s gets my vote to be Kirk’s babe in the next movie!
Mike :o
I can see her a Carol Marcus. Someone also sugested Ruth from the Shore Leave episode. That could work too.
Yeoman Rand! :-P
I’m so excited about this movie! It’s still more than a year away! Next year wil be a great year for movies with Batman, Indiana Jones, Hulk, Iron Man, and START TREK!