Why Was Alice Eve Not In Star Trek Beyond?
“Star Trek” shows tend to be ensemble dramas, and a weekly release schedule allows the shows’ writers to alternate between lead characters. One episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” for example, may focus on Geordi (LeVar Burton), while the next will be about Worf (Michael Dorn).
Movies, frustratingly, don’t have the time or the bandwidth to tell whole ensemble stories. Because they have to run about two hours, screenwriters can’t write stories wherein every single character has an arc, forcing them to focus on maybe one to three characters, maximum.
This leads to an ethos of “we need to give them something to do” screenwriting, forcing small amounts of meaningless incident into the hands of supporting players who deserve — and are capable of — much more.
“Star Trek Beyond” cleverly separates its core cast near the beginning of the film — the Enterprise crash-lands on an alien world, and the survivors are scattered over its surface — but not everyone plays a key role in the plot, nor do they have deeply involved personal journeys. For Simon Pegg, adding an additional character to his scenario wouldn’t have allowed them to do anything. He liked Carol Marcus, and Alice Eve is a talented actress, but Pegg felt she deserved more:
“With [‘Beyond’], it felt like we would under-serve her if we included her, she might end up feeling like she hadn’t been given the amount of screen-time she deserves, so rather than bring her in and just have her be a supporting role, like, have her not be in this one, and when the time comes [bring her back].”
Which makes sense, given how busy “Beyond” was as a movie.
