Science fiction and horror magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland released a preview of a forthcoming interview with STAR TREK BEYOND actor John Cho this week, where the Enterprise helmsman spoke briefly about the development of the upcoming film.

On connecting back to the original television series:

When I read the script, my emotional impression was that it felt very much like the best of the original series. It felt like the series felt to me. And the first [film] that we made didn’t entirely feel like that to me.

On the apprehension of working with a new director after J.J. Abrams’ departure:

[Justin Lin] cared about the mythology, he cared about the world, he cared about getting it right, he cared about moving the characters forward. … I think we all had question marks; it’s tough to be told that the guy you made two successful movies with isn’t going to be helming the third one.

But we were all just really pleasantly surprised as we eased into working with him.

Cho also reiterated what we’ve been hearing about the drive to build “character connections.”

What you’re going to get when you ask Simon Pegg to pen a script is a very human touch. And a warm touch. And that can come out in comedy, but doesn’t necessarily have to. And there are some funny moments. But I think he and [co-writer Doug Jung], from what I could tell, were constantly looking for connections between the characters.

And that, from the cast perspective, was what was spectacular about asking Simon and Doug to do it. It just felt like they were looking for human moments.

The full interview with John Cho will be available in the June issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland.