Movies

Simon Pegg Says You Really Shouldn't Watch Any More 'Star Trek Beyond' Marketing

star trek beyond marketing
By Jacob Hall/

Star Trek Beyond opens in just a few days and a new TV spot has spoiled one of the film's biggest twists. In other words, you probably shouldn't watch that new TV spot. I highly recommend not watching that new TV spot. And now Simon Pegg, the co-writer of the film and the man wearing chief engineer Montgomery Scott's red uniform, has made it clear that you shouldn't watch this new TV spot. This may have the opposite effect and entice you into actually watching this new TV spot, but hey, at least we're trying here. At the very least, now you know exactly what you're getting into here rather than blindly stumbling into a 30 second advertisement that blatantly gives away a third act reveal.

Here's Simon Pegg's official Twitter account asking you (yes, you) to go cold turkey on all things Star Trek Beyond for the next few days.

As is often the case, the marketing department and the people who actually made the film are not seeing eye-to-eye on how to sell this movie. Could this be some kind of panic on the part of Paramount, whose theatrical trailers have promised lots of spectacle and excitement while only hinting at the faint outline of the film's actual plot? Star Trek Beyond is one of the summer's big wild cards, a movie that could do as well as the first two movies in the Kelvin timeline or completely disappoint and no one will blink an eye in either case.

If you insist on watching the TV spot, here it is. But I'll just say this much: I'm typically immune to spoilers and believe strongly that any truly good movie cannot be ruined by knowing basic plot points in advance, but I immediately kicked myself upon clicking play on this. So, you know, proceed with caution. Spoilers immediately follow after the video embed.

So there you go: Idris Elba's actual face and voice are in this film. Because I haven't seen the movie, I cannot say whether or not he's disguised as an alien or if something awful has happened to him, but the grand reveal seems to be that he is either human or was once human. In either case, this feels like a desperation move. Elba's face has been all over the place these past few weeks with the recent coverage of The Dark Tower and Paramount apparently wants to start reminding people that he's in this movie, spoilers be damned. What a bummer.

Star Trek Beyond opens this Friday, July 22, 2016.

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