Star Trek Beyond introduced Sofia Boutella as Jaylah, but it’s Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon that fulfilled Boutella’s potential in a way Star Trek hasn’t.
Summary
- Rebel Moon fulfills the potential of Sofia Boutella’s Jaylah from Star Trek Beyond, with Kora as a compelling action heroine.
- Star Trek’s movie inactivity missed the opportunity to develop Jaylah further and showcase her full potential.
- The future of Jaylah’s character in a potential Star Trek 4 remains uncertain, while Rebel Moon continues to build a franchise around Kora.
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon proves Star Trek blew it with Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), the best new character introduced by J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Beyond. Billed as a more “mature” Star Wars and inspired by Akira Kurasawa’s films and Heavy Metal Magazine, Rebel Moon is Snyder’s bold new space fantasy on Netflix. Starring Sofia Boutella as Kora, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire premiered in December and became the #1 most viewed movie on Netflix, with an even longer director’s cut on the way. The conclusion of the saga, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, premieres on Netflix in 2024.
Star Trek Beyond premiered in 2016, with Sofia Boutella donning elaborate makeup to play a heroic new alien named Jaylah. After the USS Enterprise was destroyed by Krall (Idris Elba) and his swarm, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew were stranded and scattered on the planet Altamid. Scotty (Simon Pegg) and Kirk encountered Jaylah, who was also a prisoner on Altamid. Jaylah’s knowledge of the planet, ingenuity, and courage were crucial to Kirk rescuing his crew and launching the derelict Starfleet ship, the USS Franklin. After Kirk and his crew defeated Krall and saved the USS Yorktown space station, Jaylah joined Starfleet.
The tragic death of Anton Yelchin in 2016 tacitly made Jaylah the logical replacement for Ensign Pavel Chekov in the next Star Trek movie – which has yet to happen.
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Rebel Moon’s Kora Fulfills The Star Trek Promise Of Sofia Boutella’s Jaylah
Star Trek fans have waited 8 years to see more of Jaylah.
Sofia Boutella’s Kora is the main protagonist of Rebel Moon, which fulfills the potential Jaylah showed in Star Trek Beyond. As Kora, Boutella is a fierce action heroine, lethal in battle, but also a character of great emotional depth. As Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire continues, Kora reveals her tragic backstory as a survivor who was adopted into the Imperium and turned into a soldier and the bodyguard of Princess Issa (Stella Grace Fitzgerald). Rebel Moon‘s world building is intriguingly expansive, with multiple characters and planets, and an elaborate history unfolding, but Kora is a riveting lead character who holds the audience’s empathy as she assembles a ragtag team of rebels to face the Imperium.
Boutella is so compelling as Kora, it’s a sad reminder of how Star Trek’s movie inactivity bungled Jaylah since her debut in Star Trek Beyond. Jaylah achieved the difficult task of sliding into the already established cast of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek but immediately fitting in and becoming an indispensable member of the ensemble. Jaylah showed pluck and resourcefulness, while her alien nature led to an influx of wry humor as she tried to understand her new human friends and called Captain Kirk “James T.” Jaylah also had surprising taste in Earth music, which created a funny callback to Kirk’s favorite song from his youth, The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” helping to defeat Krall’s swarm. Any Star Trek Beyond fan who wanted to see more of Jaylah can enjoy Kora‘s full-blown action hero turn in Rebel Moon.
Will Jaylah Return If Star Trek 4 Happens?
The next J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie is still in development hell.
Kora will definitely return in Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, but the same assurance isn’t there for Sofia Boutella reprising Jaylah. A fourth Star Trek movie produced by J.J. Abrams has been in development hell for years, despite big name filmmakers like Matt Shakman, S.J. Clarkson, Noah Hawley, and Quentin Tarantino trying to launch Star Trek 4. Throughout the various and different failed attempts to develop Star Trek 4, it’s not clear if Jaylah would return as part of the USS Enterprise crew. For her part, Boutella wants to return to Star Trek as Jayah, telling Steel City Con in 2023:
I would love to see her evolve with all of the guys and with everybody. I would love to go back to her. I love her a lot. I enjoyed that experience so much. I would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t know if they’re making a fourth one. I hear things all the time, but I don’t know what’s happening.
After Star Trek Beyond, Sofia Boutella played the eponymous monster in 2017’s The Mummy opposite Tom Cruise. Zack Snyder wisely recognized Boutella’s tremendous charisma and cast Sofia as the lead of Rebel Moon. The success of Rebel Moon could indeed spawn a new IP and franchise for Netflix to continue utilizing Boutella’s talents as Kora. And that would be more bad news for Star Trek 4, as there might be no guarantee Sofia Boutella would be available to play Jaylah again if a new Star Trek movie does finally get off the ground.
