Here's Why Alice Eve's Carol Marcus Wasn't in STAR TREK BEYOND

Not enough people are talking about Star Trek Beyond, one of the rare live-action tentpole studio releases this summer that's really worth seeing. It's a lot of fun and a strong entry into the Trek franchise, worthy of the celebration surrounding the series' 50th anniversary. But while the film introduces one female character in Sofia Boutella's badass Jaylah (named after Jennifer Lawrence), it takes away another female role with Alice Eve's Carol Marcus, who, after appearing in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness, isn't so much as referenced in the new movie. So what gives? Where was the character while the rest of the Enterprise crew was going beyond?

Co-writer/actor Simon Pegg (who I interviewed about the movie here) spoke with host Jordan Hoffman on Engage: The Official Star Trek Podcast (a wonderful new podcast everyone should listen to) and answered that very question:

“With this 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]. The worst thing to do would be to have her in the film and have that character be killed, and that felt like a cynical thing to do. We thought rather than have Carol Marcus not be used to a reasonable capacity, let’s just not include her, have her be alive, in canon, and ready to come back at any time.”

I suppose that's a good enough reason not to include someone, and yes, killing her off after a very small amount of screen time would have felt cheap and unreasonable. At least now the option is on the table to bring her back and develop her character further if the filmmakers want to in Star Trek 4. What do you think? Did you miss her in Beyond? Do you think she deserves to be fleshed out more down the road?

Transcription via The Playlist