They love Chekov after all, Russian actor in talks for role!

leaked online earlier in the week for the new Star Trek movie, leading us to speculate that an actor had already been cast for the role or the character wouldn't be in the film at all. A talkbacker suggested that the character probably would be absent from Abrams' Trek universe because Chekov wasn't in the early seasons of the show and if Abrams is going back to the beginning and being faithful to the original material then this would make sense. Well I can now tell you thanks to The Hollywood Reporter that Chekov will be in the film, and it looks like he will be played by 18 year old Russian born actor Anton Yelchin. He was the lead in Charlie Bartlett and also previously starred in Alpha Dog with roles in the T.A.T.U. flick and a comedy/drama from the director of Turistas on his upcoming schedule. For those not in tune with Trek, Pavel Chekov is the young ensign navigator on the Enterprise bridge. For those fans of the Next Generation... think Wesley Crusher, just played by a better actor. Although he would never get as many single episodes revolved around his character as Wes. Boy, I hated that Crusher character. Everytime I would watch Trek it would seem to be about him, the most uninteresting character on the ship! So does this casting mean that we aren't going back to the early days of the first Kirk missions in Trek after all or is it simply that Abrams is changing the timeline of things to suit his film, by adding a memorable character to his crew? Can't help but think they missed the boat on this one by not casting a young female in this role but oh well, they will have to cast a strong Uhura to compensate. This Yelchin guy sure is young and he looks it. Please don't be the next Wesley Crusher!