Star Trek: Simon Pegg Says Losing Anton Yelchin was 'A Huge Blow' to the Franchise

At the moment, it is still unclear what will happen with the next Star Trek theatrical release. However, Simon Pegg is certain of one thing. The Star Trek: Beyond actor believes that the film series lost its momentum right after Anton Yelchin's unfortunate passing.

Pegg recently spoke to GamesRadar where he revealed that he is still unsure whether he will be asked to reprise his role as Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott in Star Trek 4. The Mission: Impossible - Fallout actor pointed out that the franchise is being careful right now especially since the movies don't make as much as comic book films.

"The fact is, Star Trek movies don't make Marvel money," Pegg said. "They make maybe $500 million at the most, and to make one now, on the scale they've set themselves, is $200 million. You have to make three times that to make a profit," Pegg said.

That's not the only obstacle for the Star Trek film series. Pegg also stated that there were some mistakes that were made with the previous movies and it all got worst when Yelchin died unexpectedly in 2016.

"I don't feel like the last one… They didn't really take advantage of the 50th anniversary. The regimen at the time dropped the ball on the promo of the film. And we've lost momentum," Pegg said. "I think losing Anton was a huge blow to our little family, and our enthusiasm to do another one might have been affected by that. So I don't know."

Yelchin passed away in June 2016 due to a freak accident that happened in his own home. Since then, there have been no plans to recast Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek movies. Sadly, it looks like this won't be necessary as the franchise is taking a new direction with the fourth film.

It was previously reported that the new Star Trek movie will be another reboot that will do away with the cast that was introduced in the J.J. Abrams trilogy.

Related: Star Trek: Discovery Actor Opens Up About ALS Diagnosis