The Raid: Redemption and Fast & Furious 6 star Joe Taslim is moving from the action movie genre to sci-fi, signing on for a role in Star Trek Beyond. Heat Vision Blog doesn't have any details about his character, except that it is a "key part" opposite Idris Elba, who plays a villain. The project reunites the actor with filmmaker Justin Lin, who directed him in Fast & Furious 6.

Aside from Idris Elba and Joe Taslim, Sofia Boutella is the only other new cast member confirmed for Star Trek Beyond. Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness stars Chris Pine (Captain Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (Bones), Simon Pegg (Scotty), Anton Yelchin (Chekov) and John Cho (Sulu) all reprise their roles in the sci-fi sequel. The plot centers on the U.S.S. Enterprise crew starting their five-year mission, with director Justin Lin teasing last month that the sequel will explore different worlds and introduce new alien species.

Aside from starring as Scotty, Simon Pegg also co-wrote the script with Doug Jung, which the writer revealed will stay true to the spirit of the original Star Trek TV series. The movie has been set for release on July 8, 2016, which will tie in to the 50th Anniversary celebration of the original Star Trek TV series. The sequel has also launched a campaign with Omaze, where a handful of lucky winners will win trips to the set. A video released from the Star Trek Beyond set earlier this week revealed one of the alien masks being used.

Star Trek Beyond was originally set to be directed by Roberto Orci, who was working on the script with new writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. The director eventually backed out of the project, with Paramount reportedly scrapping their script entirely. It was reported that their story featured a number of Vulcans, more time travel and scenes that would bring together Chris Pine's Kirk with the original version of the character, played by William Shatner in the hit TV series.

Indonesian actor Joe Taslim played Jaka in the critically-acclaimed martial arts action thriller The Raid: Redemption, which led to his casting in Fast & Furious 6 as Jah, his first English-language feature. It isn't known if his exceptional martial arts skills will be put on display in Star Trek Beyond or not, but perhaps we'll get a glimpse of the actor on the set during the next Omaze video. What do you think about this new casting addition?