Star Trek Beyond has been filming for at least a month now in Vancouver, and aside from a few key facts–like that actor Idris Elba is in it as some kind of villain,  Fast and the Furious‘ Justin Lin is directing, Simon Pegg (a.k.a. Scotty) wrote the movie, and that this chapter finally has the crew of the Enterprise on its historic five-year mission–we know very little else about this movie.

Well, that changed today as a behind-the-scenes video emerged from the set of the film, giving us our first glimpses at the movie. The scene in question was shot outdoors, and features Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and Alton Yelchin as Chekov emerging from the hatch of a ship, along with Simon Pegg’s Scotty and newcomer Sofia Boutella, with a big green screen backdrop.

The biggest reveal among these images is in regards to actress Sofia Boutella, who you might remember as the badass assasin with blades for feet from Kingsman: The Secret Service earlier this year. She’s playing some kind of pasty white alien species, one never seen before in Star Trek canon. (I think. I’m a pretty big Trekker, but some of those species from Voyager and Enterprise have slipped through cracks in my memory. That being said, I’m pretty sure that’s a new alien race.)

The other big reveal here is Kirk and Chekov in new Starfleet Uniforms. Starfleet changes uniform design like every five minutes, but Scotty still seems to be wearing the classic uniform, so my bet is this is a special “away mission” uniform. The new reboot films seem to have different uniforms for every occasion, so that seems to be the case here as well.

As I stated before, we know very little about what to expect from this movie, as director Justin Lin says one thing, and writer Simon Pegg says a seemingly contradictory thing.

Lin has been quoted as saying, “What we experienced in the TV show hasn’t been touched on yet. That sets up an opportunity for exploration and the deeper you go, the more you are examining humanity. Those are the things that I absorbed as a kid and hope to tap into.” That sounds more like pure Star Trek than anything we’ve had in the past couple of movies.

Meanwhile, Pegg says, “Let’s make a western or a thriller or a heist movie, then populate that with Star Trek characters so it’s more inclusive to an audience that might be a little bit reticent.” Wait, wasn’t that the last two Star Trek movies?

Aside from Chris Pine, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, Idris Elba and Boutella, the rest of the main cast from the past two movies is back as well, as well as newcomers Joe Taslim and Lydia Wilson. Interestingly, Alice Eve, who played Carol Marcus in Star Trek Into Darkness, does not appear to be coming back, despite joining the crew of the Enterprise in the last movie. Considering in the original Trek timeline she becomes the mother of Kirk’s son, David, that’s an interesting omission to be sure.

Star Trek Beyond is set to come out next July 8th, in time for Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary.

What do you make of these new set photos and uniforms? Let us know in the comments below.

Curious about how Star Trek’s transporters work? Kyle Hill explains it all on Because Science:

HT: ScreenCrush