The late James Doohan, who played the original Scotty, and Scotty's future (past?), Simon Pegg. Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar/Guardian/Graeme Robertson
Great Scott, we didn't see this one coming. With JJ Abrams' Star Trek prequel entering production next month, the final pieces of the cast are falling into place, and the Enterprise bridge now has its Scotty. Variety reports that stepping into James Doohan's jumpsuit will be... Simon Pegg!
In a blow to former favourite James McAvoy's takeover of Hollywood, the part of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott will be played by the Britpack's chief pratfaller. Well, if they couldn't bring themselves to cast a genuine Scottish actor, an Englishman is at least close.
Pegg joins Zachary Quinto (Sylar from Heroes) as Young Spock, John Cho (Harold from Harold and Kumar) as Sulu, Zoe Saldana (the first Pirates of the Caribbean) as Uhuru, Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog) as Chekov and Eric Bana (Hulk!) as the villain Nero, with Chris Pine looking close to inking a deal to play Kirk.
It seems a strange choice. So far, Abrams has avoided stunt casting while re-assembling the Enterprise crew. We're led to believe that one of the main obstacles to casting Matt Damon as Kirk was his age: at 37, Damon was too old to pass for a Captain straight out of Starfleet Academy. Pegg is also 37, but then, James Doohan was 11 years older than William Shatner.
Pegg's got form in genre circles of course; at the helm of Shaun of the Dead, a cameo in Mission: Impossible III, and of course a turn in homegrown Doctor Who. But he's largely unproven as a straight actor - if, indeed, Trek is going to demand a straight turn from him.
If it works, it could be a springboard for Pegg into a proper Hollywood career he's totally capable of, and I've got my fingers crossed that the decision was inspired. If there's room for a comic treatment of any of the Enterprise Crew, it's surely from the gruff, obsessive Montgomery Scott. They might even use the most famous line of dialogue never to have been spoken in Star Trek: "Beam me up, Scotty."
Whatever, Trekkies are notoriously proprietorial, and the sci-fi forums are already ablaze. It looks like this is one could be as controversial as Catherine Tate's full-time stint on Doctor Who. Can Pegg pull it off? Phasers on stun, get commenting.
