“Star Trek” shows tend to be ensemble dramas, and a weekly release schedule allows the show’s writers to rotate the main characters. An episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” for example, could focus on Geordi (LeVar Burton)while the next one will be about Worf (Michael Dorn).
Films, frustratingly, don’t have the time or bandwidth to tell entire overall stories. Since they have to last about two hours, writers can’t write stories in which every single character has an arc, forcing them to focus on one or three characters at most.
This leads to a “we need to give them something to do” screenwriting ethic, forcing small amounts of inconsequential incidents into the hands of supporting actors who deserve (and are capable of) so much more.
“Star Trek Beyond” cleverly separates its main cast near the beginning of the film: The Enterprise lands on an alien world and survivors are scattered across its surface, but not all of them have a key role in the plot, nor do they have deeply involved personal journeys . For Simon Pegg, adding one more character to his scenario wouldn’t allow them to do anything. He liked Carol Marcus and Alice Eve is a talented actress, but Pegg felt he deserved better:
“With [‘Beyond’]it felt like we would be underestimating her if we included her, she might end up feeling like she wasn’t given the screen time she deserved, so rather than bring her in and just have her be a supporting role, like, have her not be in this, and when the time comes [bring her back].”
Which makes sense, considering how challenging the film “Beyond” was.
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