On Sunday night, Star Trek Beyond boldly goes where it has never gone before: broadcast television. In May, CBS launched its Sunday Night Movies programming, with blockbuster films airing from Indiana Jones to Titanic airing every Sunday night. The Sunday Night Movies program returned in October, and tonight, Star Trek gets in on the fun. Star Trek Beyond will make its broadcast television debut tonight at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Star Trek Beyond is the 13th Star Trek film the third movie set in the Star Trek franchise's alternate universe called the Kelvin Timeline. Here's the official synopsis from CBS:
"From director Justin Lin and producer J.J. Abrams comes one of the best-reviewed action movies of 2016. Dispatched on a rescue mission to the farthest reaches of space, the USS Enterprise is ambushed by Krall (Idris Elba), a ruthless enemy sworn against the Federation. Crash-landing on an uncharted hostile world, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Lieutenant Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Dr. 'Bones' McCoy (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin) are separated with no means of escape. Only Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), a rebellious alien warrior, can help them reunite and find a way off the planet in a race against time to stop Krall's deadly army from triggering all-out galactic war."
Ahead of Star Trek Beyond's theatrical debut, Paramount Pictures announced a sequel that would bring back Chris Hemsworth as Captain Kirk's father, George Kirk. Since then, Paramount has slowed development on the project. Hemsworth and Chris Pine both exited, reportedly due to contract disputes. Almost five years later, Paramount is still figuring out how to proceed with its Star Trek film series. There are currently three Star Trek movies on separate development tracks. They include one by Noah Hawley, one Quentin Tarantino pitched, and the original time travel idea with Kirk's father.
Hawley's movie would introduce a brand new Starfleet crew. Zachary Quinto told ComicBook.com earlier this year that he's made peace with the idea that Star Trek Beyond may have been his crew's final outing.
"[Star Trek's] already thriving in the television format with Discovery and Picard and the spinoffs," Quinto said. "I can't even keep track of how many new Star Trek stories are being told since our last film in 2016. All I know is that we, all of us, had an incredible experience making those films. If there is an appetite for more of those stories with us in them, I'm sure that we would all be thrilled to come back and do one more or whatever, but I'm not really attached to it anymore.
"I stepped away from any expectation or any real certainty that it's ever going to happen again," he continued. "I think that's the only real way to move through the world, right? If it happens, that'd be great, but I'm not going to sit around waiting for it to happen. I have a ton of other stuff in my life, in my career. I have lifelong friendships from those films and working relationships and a lot of respect and fond memories, so if that's what it ends up being and I can look back on my life and say that's what it was, then that's incredible, and if we get to do more, that's also incredible. But as far as the stories go, they've been around for decades and generations, and I think that that will continue, whether or not we continue on with them."
Star Trek Beyond airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Keep reading to see some photos from the film.
