A new feature interview with director Justin Lin and the STAR TREK BEYOND cast arrives today from British science fiction and fantasy magazine SFX, conducted this Spring as post-production concludes on the next Trek adventure.

First up, Sulu actor John Cho on the rocky start, and Justin Lin’s onboarding process:

Bob Orci had written a script. [He and the studio] had gotten far along in the process and they decided to part ways. I understand it was amicable, but money had been spent, time had been burned, and Justin was under the gun. The release date was not moving [past July.]

So he went into independent director mode. It was time to get creative and lean on his gut instincts. I think it could lead to something special, because he was having to be mindful of what his instincts were.

Cho’s hopes for Sulu’s development in BEYOND:

I wanted Sulu to advance emotionally. [Having a daughter] complicates the mission in a weird way and makes it personal… his family complicates his belief system as it relates to Starfleet.

Karl Urban discusses McCoy’s expanded role:

There’s a lot more McCoy in this movie than probably the last two movies combined. My relationship with Captain Kirk is not inferred – it’s there, you see it. You see him being a supportive friend, a consigliere, even a psychologist in a way.

Also, for a huge part of the film, I get to spend time with Spock, which is something new. [McCoy and Spock are] thrown into great jeopardy and have to depend on each other to survive.

Newcomer Sofia Boutella talks about becoming Jaylah:

Jaylah is a survivor, and she is someone who thinks outside the box. She’s an alien warrior [who] has more in common with Kirk than anyone else in the film; they’re both very independent. She makes her own weapons.

I was attracted to this character because she’s an alien, and she’s a completely original character in the ‘Star Trek’ universe, so I don’t have to compare myself with anyone who came before me – I am Jaylah.

I spent four hours in makeup every morning, and when I put on the prosthetic and saw myself in the mirror, it instantly put me into the character.

Director Justin Lin also had a lot to say, expanding upon his previous remarks on the storytelling themes of STAR TREK BEYOND.

[‘Star Trek’] had the ultimate mission statement – which is to try new things.

I think that sometimes gets lost. Let’s sometimes go to places where we’re not that comfortable. IF anything, this is the one franchise where you can do that.

Part of the deconstruction was that we needed to take the security blanket away, which is the Enterprise. That’s always been there and I felt like we should just take it away pretty early on. Not in a disrespectful way, but let’s find a way of doing it so that is launches our characters into their most uncomfortable places without their ship.

On casting Idris Elba as the film’s villain, Krall:

When I talk about deconstructing the Federation, obviously a big part of that is to have an opposing view. Idris [Elba] was my top choice by far, because antagonists don’t really have a lot of screen time.

You need someone who can command a presence and be able to fully commit and carry that through very surgically. We had a great conversation, but at the end, he paused – he goes, “It’s gonna be four hours of makeup every morning, right?”

It was, and he was awesome. He’s delivering 100% every time.

Lin also touches on the somewhat-controversial nature of action sequences in Star Trek films.

I knew why they came to me [to direct the film]. They know i can make big-budget movies. But at the same time, I had to find the appropriate journey for this movie.

So yeah, there is a lot of action, but it can’t be action for action’s sake. In a very short amount of time I had to maek sure that they understoon that I know that that’s where commerce and art collide.

It’s my job to make sure that the action is appropriate, it’s organic, it’s something that can be embraced by people who like ‘Star Trek.’

‘Star Trek’ is, I think, the only franchise that’s been able to cross over from TV with a limited budget to mega-franchise; that’s part of the DNA of ‘Star Trek.’ So for Simon and Doug [Jung] and I, our challenge was to bring that.

We know this is a big-budget movie, but at the same time let’s not forget that we can have two characters in a room talking, and if we do our job right it’s equally compelling. That’s something we definitely took to heart.

The director also reveals a bit of on-set improvisation:

The scene in the trailer where Sofia sits in the captain’s chair – that happened during rehearsal. It was not scripted. We hadn’t rehearsed it. The camera was set up, she came in an sat down, and she said, “This is my house.”

I looked at Simon [Pegg] and said, “This has to be the scene.” So we re-crafted it… and now it’s one of my favorite moments in the movie.

Finally, Lin addresses critics ahead of the STAR TREK BEYOND release, standing behind the content of the film:

I had Simon and I had Doug and I had JJ [Abrams]; it was a great team. But when it comes down to it, at the end of the day, if you watch a movie and you hate it, it’s on me.

STAR TREK BEYOND arrives on July 22.