it will be interesting to see...whatever they decide will make them the most money
Writing In A New Chekov
- Thread starter Dryson
- Start date
it will be interesting to see...whatever they decide will make them the most money
This is the kind of thoughtless, inconsiderate, shallow post I didn't want to see, but expected anyway. Worse that it's an actual thread.
I'm not sure this has ever happened before in Trek...a young actor who played a memorable main character dying in between film releases.
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Sending Chekov off to the Reliant - offscreen - would seem to be the option that would cause less pain, wouldn't it? All it takes is a line or two of dialogue. No harm, no fuss.
I mean, recasting would still be an option, but they don't even have to go that far. Yelchin's death will be felt for a long, long time, and perhaps it's just best to let Chekov be.
I mean, recasting would still be an option, but they don't even have to go that far. Yelchin's death will be felt for a long, long time, and perhaps it's just best to let Chekov be.
The closest thing I can think of in Trek history was Roger C. Carmel's death in 1986 scuttling the tentative plans to bring back Harry Mudd for a TNG guest appearance. Although that was early enough in the series' development process that they couldn't have had more than a vague idea in mind.
Why do they need to do anything? Recast and move on.
It's not unprecedented.
It's not unprecedented.
I think the best idea is to acknowledge the actor and character's passing early in the next film. Maybe have a brief scene in which Kirk wistfully touches a picture and plaque of Chekov on a memorial wall of fallen Enterprise crew members., indicating that he passed away sometime between the events of the third and fourth films.
They don't need to have a detailed explanation of how he died or what he was doing...if anything that would probably just cheapen the moment.
Instead of recasting, maybe use the fact that we're in the JJverse as a chance to introduce a this universe's version of another TOS character like Kevin Riley. He could fill Chekov's position without being an obvious recasting or a direct replacement.
It's one thing to recast a part because an actor was a pain to work with or because of a contract issues, etc., but when a young and promising actor dies under bizarre and tragic circumstances, pretending nothing happened seems kind of tacky.
They don't need to have a detailed explanation of how he died or what he was doing...if anything that would probably just cheapen the moment.
Instead of recasting, maybe use the fact that we're in the JJverse as a chance to introduce a this universe's version of another TOS character like Kevin Riley. He could fill Chekov's position without being an obvious recasting or a direct replacement.
It's one thing to recast a part because an actor was a pain to work with or because of a contract issues, etc., but when a young and promising actor dies under bizarre and tragic circumstances, pretending nothing happened seems kind of tacky.
Agreed...I think the dignified thing to do is to retire the character entirely. Anything else would be pretty tasteless.
Too soon to be talking about this. 
I question whether any of this urgently needed to be addressed so soon after Yelchin's death. The impression you're giving is that you can't stand to wait even 24 hours before starting to write your own new version of the character, and it's a bit creepy.
A CGI Chekov is out of the question. That's even tackier than a recast.
Not really. No.
It is too soon to be thinking about this sort of thing but Yelchin's performances were worthwhile enough and entertaining enough to stand on their own. It will be a year before they even start to thnk about another sequel and we do not know for sure at this stage how many of the remaining six will want to return or will be able to return to the TOS reboot crew (if any). Chekov became one of the Big 7 but he did not feature in Season one or TAS. There are many other potential characters who have not been used yet (Chapel, Rand, Ilia, Reilly, Decker, Ilia, Xon, Arex, to name a few) not to mention NuPavel's younger brother... It would seem superfluous to re-cast given his creditable performance and the multitude of other options. I say leave Pavel off on his own adventures where he can live on in our imagination.
It is too soon for this. Let's mourn and then decide.
I'm kind of torn about this because--when all is said and done--we still lost a member of the Star Trek family with Yelchin's passing. But then, there's also a sense that life (or in this case, the show) must go on at some point. Yelchin will not be forgotten, but there should be a way to both honor his passing and move things forward if there's a fourth Abramsverse movie.
I could see a case of Chekov being promoted and reassigned to another ship--I think I would rather prefer that than to have the role recast. There probably should be a point in the proposed movie that whoever fills in that navigator's chair has big shoes to fill, IMO.
I could see a case of Chekov being promoted and reassigned to another ship--I think I would rather prefer that than to have the role recast. There probably should be a point in the proposed movie that whoever fills in that navigator's chair has big shoes to fill, IMO.
You know, I'm not trying to start a fight here, but I've seen this sentiment several times since yesterday, including a couple of times again in this thread since your post, and I have to say something:
I agree with you that a real, very talented young man with real family and friends has died, and I HOPE that all of us can keep that in mind, and stay in touch with the reality of that. I've seen a picture of Spock, Scotty, and McCoy welcoming him... somewhere... circulating today, and while I'm sure some find that touching (and that's fine for them), I find it a little disturbing, honestly.
That said, I didn't know Yelchin. I feel like, for me, it is inappropriate to gush over someone I didn't know - worse than inappropriate, but more like I would belittling the grieving of his actual family and friends to even pretend like I will miss him a fraction of what they will. I knew him as Chekov. Discussing how it sucks that he won't be around to play the role, and where depiction of the character needs to go from here, is the one SINCERE thing I can think of to describe how I will miss Yelchin.
If others want to mourn him and feel it is inappropriate to talk about where depiction of Chekov goes from here, well, I'm sorry - and I guess a thread like this isn't for you. But I also think it's kind of hateful to insist that your way of reacting to this death is the One Correct Way.
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