Star Trek Beyond's villain is 'a man with a definite purpose', says Idris Elba

Nero wanted revenge for Romulus and Khan wanted a safe future for his genetically engineered family, so what's bothering Idris Elba as the reptilian villain of Star Trek Beyond? "This is a man with a definite purpose," Elba told Entertainment Weekly, shedding some of the first details on Krall's motivation.

"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."

"There’s some history that we explore, to understand why he feels the frontier needs to push back. There’s definitely an opposing argument to the good that the Federation think they do. There are purists that believe in independence, and believe that we’re all made differently for a reason, and will fight tooth and nail to defend that. There’s massive relatability to modern world politics in that sense."

Though Krall despises the United Federation of Planets and everything it stands for, don't expect his speeches to get much grander than that 'frontier pushing back' one-liner from the trailer. Elba said Krall is "predatory" and prone to action, even if that means working on his own.

Directed by Justin Lin and starring Idris Elba, Chris Pine, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldana, Star Trek Beyond will hit theaters in the US and UK on July 22, 2016.

Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!

Image: Paramount

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.