Sofia Boutella Wants To Return For ‘Star Trek 4,’ Hopes To See Jaylah “Evolve”

The world is still waiting for news on the next movie to follow 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, which introduced a new character played by Sofia Boutella. Now the actress is talking about her hopes to return.

Boutella on Star Trek 4

In Star Trek Beyond, Sofia Boutella played the new alien character Jaylah, who helped the crew of the USS Enterprise take down the bad bad guy, Krall. The film ended with Jaylah being accepted into Starfleet Academy. Paramount has been trying to get a follow-up “Star Trek 4” film going, but it isn’t known if it would include Boutella. Appearing at Steel City Comic Con in December, Boutella talked about the possibility of returning to the role (via Fandom Spotlite):

I would love to see her evolve with all of the guys and with everybody. I would love to go back to her. I love her a lot. I enjoyed that experience so much. I would do it in a heartbeat.

Sofia Boutella as Jaylah with Zachary Quinto as Spock and Karl Urban as McCoy in Star Trek Beyond 

The latest official news from Paramount Pictures on the Star Trek 4 project was removing it from their 2023 release calendar after director Matt Shakman exited the project, with the studio still indicating it was “excited about the creative vision of this next chapter and look forward to bringing it to audiences all around world.”

Boutella gave an update on what she knows about a follow-up to Beyond:

I don’t know if they’re making a fourth one. I hear things all the time, but I don’t know what’s happening.

The actress did speak about working with Simon Pegg, who co-wrote Beyond, and said they remain close:

I owe this experience to Simon. He wrote the character. He wrote that script, obviously. But aside from being on the screen, we developed a real strong friendship. He’s been incredible during filming, and after, and he remains a really good friend. We were very, very close during that shoot.

Sofia as Jaylah with Simon Pegg as Scotty in Star Trek Beyond 

Since Beyond, Boutella has remained busy, appearing in a number of film and TV projects including The Mummy, Atomic Blonde, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, and SAS: Rogue Heroes. She just wrapped filming as the star of Zack Snyder’s upcoming sci-fi movie Rebel Moon. Over the summer, Snyder shared a makeup test with Boutella that showed she’s playing an alien again.


Keep up with all the news on Star Trek 4 and upcoming Trek films at TrekMovie.com.

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I remember shortly after Beyond’s release some fans hoping that Jaylah would be the plucky young ensign in the next movie. But, she may be an admiral by the time they make this thing, if at all.

Her character seemed like the obvious Chekov replacement in a follow up movie, with Anton Yelchin dying and all. There’s no way they would kill the Chekov character in the story itself, but I would’ve been happy with a line about him serving on the Reliant.

Agreed.

Absolutely agreed. If they do make a 4th Kelvin film, stating that he is now on the Reliant would be a great way to honor him. There is no need to kill off the character in ST4. Well said!

Well, this is an alternate timeline, and although Paramount had strict guidelines in the past about what can and cannot be done with Trek characters (at least in the books if I remember correctly) I think you could still honor Anton and his take on Chekov if he died an honorable death or his death had meaning. That being said I think Jaylah would be a welcome addition to take his place as the new navigator alongside Sulu at the helm. In a way it would also be an homage of sorts to the Animated Series having an “alien” instead of Chekov. Either way, lets get Star Trek back in theaters…

It has been so long i bet Sulu is Captain of the Excelsior in the Kelvin Timeline. Kirk is probably an Admiral and Spock is Captain of the Enterprise. They completed their 5 year mission of the Enterprise A.

You see thats the Star Trek era I love the most and would want to see again, which is why a long delayed ST’4′ is kind of a positive imo(so long as they actually get around to doing it), it gives them the opportunity to really distance themselves from TOS era and the candy coloured uniforms and them all young starting out etc and brings them fully into the 80s movie era (after the various homage/foreshadowing to the original movies in the 3 kelvin films). older wiser, maroon uniforms (or at least a kelvin variant), mushroom spacedock, proper klingons/BoPs, reliant/excelsior, saavik, david etc.

Of course that is if they bother to resurrect the Kelvinverse . At the current time its as dead as Spock lying in his Mark VI..

Kelvin Maroon unis fascinating

She needs a job

She has one.

No

Trying to get one for a movie production that doesn’t exist is probably not the best way to obtain one then. 😂😂😂

Indeed, it’s all about $$$. She has no interest in here character at all, the same as the others who say the same BS. You put your name in the hat for future projects, not just ones that are immediate.

She’s starring in a Zach Snyder film, I think she’s doing ok.

I always thought the Jaylah character had potential, seems like a waste if they don’t make another Kelvin movie. Maybe introduce her on SNW?

She was the best new character.

my only Guts feeling about her (I watched this Movie in the Cinema), she could fit together with Seven of Nine. Well at last she could be the Tough New Fresh face of the Ranger’s Crew. But well, it would be nearly impossible to merge her with current Seven of Nine from Picard TV Series. She would be a fine ranger Chief Engineer if they would had an Flagship

Because She is from the Kelvin-Timeline and Picard is not. All that could connect is this famous Black Hole born out of Red Anti-Mater. Total different Universe, Time is not on her Site. TOS Reboot meets TNG Epilogue Timeline.. And not all should be fixed with an instable Time and Space Wormhole anomaly, it is wearing down on the Fans

Introduce her Character (and the Actor) into the TV Series, if you want. But left her old Jaylah behind. Perhaps the New Face is from their Species or Family Bloodline

New face: “I am not Jaylah, She was one of my Ancestors”. “i am one of her DNA- Clones, that she created and trow the Probe trough an Wormhole and here i am!”

No need of Time Jumps, but well. Good Luck explained how she ended up in Picard’s Universe

Surprise, surprise an actress would like the chance to earn another pay cheque.😉

Actors are asked these goofy questions all the time by fans and entertainment reporters, which amount to: Would you like to keep working? Well, what do you expect them to say? No, I’d rather not be in another big movie, with even more fame and wealth and all that.

Actors get paid for their work, too. Do you work for free?

When I look for a job, it doesn’t become headline news and it doesn’t get dressed up as “Id LoVe To SeE HoW ThE ChaRaCtEr GRoWs” lie

Dude, keep you day job, because the Improv is not calling you back.

We should all live so long!

I would love to see Jaylah in another movie (or even her prime universe counterpart on Strange New Worlds).

LOL, good luck with that!

I can’t believe anyone is thinking there’s a question to ask at this point.

“It’s dead Jim.”

I guess I get it. They did just announce another movie last year, but yeah like all the others, withered and died fast. In fact the one year anniversary when they announced the Kelvin cast was coming back and all systems was go in that now infamous shareholder event announcement is next month…you can’t make this stuff up lol. And she probably just hears about another movie happening in the media like the rest of us but don’t know anything beyond that.

We should have an anniversary party for the official ‘announcement’ of ST4 . complete with anniversary logo, pins, patches, official starlog anniversary magazine, documentary (hosted by William Shatner) etc

Maybe Paramount will do a repeat this year ;-)

I’m hoping that the investors meeting will feature big announcements for two new streaming shows and the Prodigy animated feature.

That might distract investors from the utter nonsense that was the premature Kelvin movie announcement. They are fortunate that the SEC hasn’t cited them for providing misleading information to shareholders and the markets.

Imagine they do it again lol, JJ coming out and saying Trek 4 is def happening with the cast filming this year for release summer 2024. plus Hemsworth is def returning as Kirks father! (despite him going to be filming Avengers soon)

I would someone literally throw tomatoes at Abrams if this guy gets anywhere near a podium and wastes everyone’s time yet again.

Would really like to see her and the whole crew back for a fourth movie in the JJ-verse. More importantly, my wife and daughters really liked her as well.

Agreed!

Paramount, make it so

😂😂😂😂😂😂

I personally would love to see this. She was a fun character. And, seeing as (very sadly, without recasting) Chekov is no longer around, she’d be a great addition to the crew.

I would love to see Jaylah in another Star Trek movie.

Can they make a movie with a sense of wonder and exploration. A hopeful optimistic future. I don’t care if they have to do a stand alone or another reboot to give us that Roddenberry future again.

Have you seen the previous thirteen Trek movies? No, they can’t make a sense of wonder and exploration movie. Why start now?

Why the shows will always be superior to the movies IMO. Sure more CGI, bigger sets and cooler space battles, but the ‘wonder’ usually lie with the shows.

eh, TMP…..

A boring, seemingly endless drift through dark cloudy stuff only to find it was a rehash of the Nomad plot. Zero wonder for me or any of the group of young people we’d organized to see it.

I understand that the recent re-release is far superior in visual quality.

That doesn’t take away how disappointingly derivative the reveal was when we first saw the film in its initial run in the best quality cinema in the major city where I lived at the time.

Despite its many drawbacks in execution, TMP had the right idea for a Star Trek movie. It’s a mystery. What is this? We have to figure it out. Which has been the premise for many a good movie, in sci-fi and other genres. After all, what is a detective but an explorer, really?

See the recent Glass Onion for example. If someone could make a Trek movie with that sort of quick pacing, mysterious and dangerous sci-fi elements, and social commentary on top of that, then more power to them. I know Into Darkness tried to go somewhat in that direction, but again, it’s the execution.

They irony about TMP is the movie was such a bore and a disappointment, they moved Star Trek in the action realm which proved to be a huge hit. But unfortunately they now seem to think a Star Trek movie can be ONLY be successful as an action franchise. And that’s odd in itself since TVH proved (once again) you can actually do different things with the franchise that will get people to show up as long as its good and entertaining.

It would be nice to see them really try something different with the movies. Use an original cast of characters. Make a movie that is actually about exploration but don’t have to turn it into a marvel or Star Wars movie where something is blowing up every ten minutes. Create stakes where it’s not some uber-villain in the forefront, but a more internal conflict.

TMP was a really dull movie but it was definitely an ambitious one that tried to get people to think and give the story a little more weight beyond just firing at Klingons. Unfortunately they never tried that approach again.

Right, TVH is another example. It’s kind of a mystery but also at its heart it’s a heist movie. So, I don’t know why they keep going for these revenge seeking villains with big ship weapon things. That was already tiresome way back when with Nemesis.

I don’t think any of us really understand it. That seem to have become a mandate for some odd reason, at least for the last 4-5 movies. And I just became bored with the Kelvin movies because that’s what they did with every film and probably another reason why Beyond failed. It just felt like more of the same, just in a different package.

Exactly.

If they can make those dippy Short Trecks, they can make a Jaylah special on the Plus. Sofia Boutella is a great talent — note her fearless work in the daring film CLIMAX, one of this century’s most provocative and memorable cinematic achievements.

It would be great to see her in a Short Trek.

I don’t think the Shorts were at all dippy, and bringing back minor legacy characters for their own short moments is something many of us would like to see.

Would love to see her in the next movie — cool !

By this point the Star Trek movie announcement has basically become a drinking game. I don’t think she should keep her hopes up for Trek, but she is a very talented actress that I feel like will soon join either the MCU or Star Wars in some way.

Dont think she will join Star Wars becose she just wrapped Rebel Moon wich is a space opera movie by Zack Snyder .Two parts have been filmed back to back already and four more are coming wich will make it a New ip scifi Saga and will probably make Sofia Boutella sky rocketing the StarMeter of Hollywood.She is the lead character of Rebel Moon and did all her stunts, trained 15 months non stop for it.

No thanks. The movie was very forgettable as were basically all the JJ movies. They were made for the Transformers crowd, not Star Trek fans.

she was unforgettable.
bring her back if nothing else

Just read a rumour from a usually accurate twitter source (ViewerAnon) saying JJ Abrams might be going to direct Trek 4 ..

LOL oh god. But I’m sure this is another crash and burn rumor regardless.

Could be, but might just make sense as ppl are saying he must’ve been let go by DC (apparently he was developing stuff but obviously James Gunn is now running the show) and he’s kind of been burned by the fallout of Star Wars TROS (after the major success with TFA), so it makes sense he might come back to Trek for some sci fi redemption with his crew (and Par did say they were going ahead with the next Trek film after Shakman left) but yeah its difficult to get hopes up after being burned SO many times lol

I think Abrams would be a horrible choice. We don’t need someone on a ‘redemption tour’, we need someone who actually cares and gets Star Trek and Abrams isn’t it. I thought the first film was OK, but STID prove this guy should stay far away from Star Trek IMO and he’s just become too divisive in the fanbase obviously. The guy is getting burned these days for a reason and I hope that would include Star Trek too.

Now all that said, sure it can be true because the people running Paramount seems about as clueless as him. But from every report out there, the last movie failure had nothing to do with having a director, but not agreeing on a story or getting enough investors to even fund the movie because they are probably looking for MI or Top Gun profits and not Kelvin movie profits and probably why these movies are continually stalled. It all sounds like a real mess as it’s been since 2016.

I think if Abrams were to return he’d at least be trying his best to make the best movie possible after ID and ROS were deemed to have caused upset in the Trek/Wars camps.(but both his Treks were vastly superior to Beyond imo, and brought something of a 80s feel back to the Trek movies but obviously bigger). Plus it would ensure a decent budget 150m at least. What im half hoping for (based on hearing this ‘news’) is he returns as director with Orcis abandoned ST3 script adapted to fit this 4th film (and in light of Treks resurrection on tv) and we get the ’80s movie version’ of the JJ cast (as the trilogy already given us the TOS version)

I was hoping for the same.

Another shot….

Yeah we’ll see I guess. Obviously I would rather have a movie versus none at all but you know my feelings about all of this at this point. I’m just not confident about any of it or one will happen any time soon. A few years ago I was on the other side and always yelling another film was coming and people are just being too cynical. That was four years ago now lol. But if anything happens, it’s a positive. I think I just stopped caring for the most part.

Pouring more shots….

I might be directing it, too. See, that’s how rumors work.
Pouring myself a shot now, the previously mentioned drinking game sounds interesting.

A week ago, I was reading up on some old threads about the last movie announcement and I said in one of them I hate being that guy but I’m still a bit skeptical it will happen but more confident this one could at least. Someone responded to me saying ‘but you’re always that guy’.

Gee…I wonder why lol. That was said to me last March or April when it FINALLY looked like we were getting real progress for the first time in years but turned out to basically be a troll job by Paramount for the fans and actors. .I think EVERYONE should be that guy or girl now. And relying on rumors like this is just more of the same non-news.

Phil you better not screw this movie up. We waited way too long. Wait I just heard you left the project.

Well first what Red Line would they create? I mean until Now not so many TV Star Trek Shows are like the Kelvin Movies, right? Kelvin Movies is like StarFleet is on War. So show me a current TV Show that is on War with some other Species? Not even Discovery are currently on War. The Last time i am remembering of War is the DS9 War Arc. But i do not know if this is well received enough to bring it to the Cinemas or even “Netflix”.

So looking at the current popular TV Shows guide them as Compass:

Discovery: to save an Entire Galaxy (again)?

Strange New World: It is an well written pre-TOS TV Show. I do not think the Fans want to see an War Admiral Pike

Picard: This Show do not count, because it is surrounded Picard and his Crew Buddies around him, Perhaps the Children of Sung and the X-Borgs could get an Spinoff with the Ranger’s Power combined. But then it is moving away from Starfleet (ST:Renegades?). Do we really want to see some Marquie 2 Reloaded History?

Lower Decks, the Stars are the Crew on their Ship. But when they are out of old TV Shows and Movies references, that is their Main Engine so far, what will happen to them?

Prodigy is targeting for Kids and Parents that want to introduce them to their Star Trek old World values

So where do Kelvin’s Pew Pew, Peng Peng World could fit? Showing us the Cowboy Solutions of an alternate Kirk? Borgs? The evil Borgs is no more

So i really do not know what Star Trek 4 would do different or try to adept

Sry, for the Wall of text and for my spelling

Going forward, she definitely deserves to be a regular in any Kelvin movies. She’s just too good to leave behind!

I agree, she has some bits of:

  • B’Elanna Torres
  • Jett Reno

it would be a shame if She never appears because Kelvin Movies are iced. Perhaps the Writing Room should be Honest and Bold with the fans and do not try to hide it. But give an good plausible solution to be on the current TV Shows. Let her be an Future DNA Clone of her, send trough this Red Mater created Wormhole with the Mission to save Romulous. But well, they where a bit off and She came to late in the (Insert TV Show Timeline here and Universe) and She try to adept with a Fresh Start

Come on, in Lower Decks they found also an bold but honset Solution to revive someone, right? Just to not try to play Dumb with the fans, and the rest would fall into it’s Places

Of the three Kelvin movies, BEYOND (faults and flaws aside) was the ONLY one that my late wife and I truly enjoyed. If they end up making another Kelvin film (unlikely, I think), she needs to be in it, one way or another. That’s the only way they’d get me into a theater and to buy a Blu-ray for my library. Otherwise, I’m just looking forward to the third and final year of PICARD. Nothing else in the Trek franchise still has my attention. My primary interest is on non-genre low budget indie films and filmmakers.

Robert Meyer Burnett has come out and said that JJ is definitely going to direct the 4th Kelvin film, but still waiting on a script.

I’m no RMB fanboy, but where there’s smoke, there’s a fire when it comes to RMB. I mean, Terry Matalas screened the entire PIC s3 to the guy to promote the show.

It does kind of make sense when you consider it was JJ who full on announced ST4 going ahead a year ago like ‘yeh its def happening and it will have my cast in it’ but then it doesn’t happen? So everyone the fans, the cast, thinks he was just making it up? he won’t want that on him will he. (shades of announcing the Hemsworth ST4 back in 2016) a way to make it right is to come back and direct

and ‘the notorious’ RMB does seem quite reliable. I remember few years ago way before it was rumoured on internet etc he hinted all kinds of multiverse stuff bringing back previous actors was in the works at Marvel/DC that would blow peoples minds and he wasn’t wrong – (SM:NWH, Dr Strange Multiverse, Keaton back as Batman in The Flash, Avengers Secret Wars etc)

Ok hear me out l. How did star fleet handle Franklin captain in the prime universe? Like he was far from the timeline incursion and disappeared before the split. Like I would love ST. SNW handle this issue