Simon Pegg Confirms: Star Trek Beyond Is Just Like Current Political Events

Star Trek Beyond hasn’t been released yet, but it has already generated buzz for featuring the franchise’s first gay character — John Cho’s Hikaru Sulu (originally played by George Takei). Now, writer Simon Pegg has weighed in on how the film speaks to other real-world issues.

The 46-year-old actor — who reprises his role as Enterprise engineer Scotty in Beyond — chatted with CBC Radio guest host Rachel Giese Friday about how the sci-fi flick’s plot relates to today’s political climate. “[It] was always very important that [Beyond] not just be an adventure in space, it had to have some kind of allegorical weight and relevance to now, which I think it does — even more than we intended — with the current thing with Brexit and the U.K,” he said.

Pegg went on to talk about the message the film sends. “This sort of anti-collectivism which exists right now; that’s the thrust of our villain,” he said. “We’re living in an era when people want to build walls between countries when we should be knocking walls down.”

Star Trek Beyond hits theaters on July 22.