How did Idris Elba’s Star Trek Beyond character Captain Edison transform into the villainous alien Krall? Since the Star Trek reboot movies (AKA the Kelvin Timeline series) launched in 2009, the crew of the USS Enterprise has faced off against a variety of threats. In the first reboot movie, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and company battled a rogue Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana), while sequel Star Trek Into Darkness saw the crew lock horns with ex-Starfleet commander and terrorist John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) who was later revealed to be the genetically engineered superhuman Khan Noonien Singh.
Star Trek Beyond – the third and, to date, final installment in the Kelvin Timeline series – cast Idris Elba in the lead villain role. Idris Elba’s Krall is an alien who launches an attack that destroys the USS Enterprise and leaves many of its crew dead or stranded on the planet Altamid. Throughout Star Trek Beyond, Krall is seen seemingly draining the lifeforce out of several Enterprise redshirts and his nefarious plans are soon revealed: with the help of a devastating bioweapon called the Abronath, he intends to take over the Yorktown space station and use it as a base to launch a revenge attack that would destroy the entire Federation.
In the third act of Star Trek Beyond, Krall’s true identity is revealed. He’s actually Balthazar Edison, a human Starfleet officer who captained the starship USS Franklin. A century before the events of Star Trek Beyond, the Franklin crashed on Altamid leaving Edison and his surviving crew members stranded. Their distress calls went unanswered by the Federation, which caused Edison to grow resentful of the alliance and reject its goals of intergalactic unity and peace. But how did Edison transform into his alien-like Krall form?
While stranded on Altamid, Edison and his remaining crew discovered technology left behind on the planet by its previous inhabitants – including ships, weapons and a drone workforce. They also found an energy transference technology that allowed them to drain the lifeforce from other beings and began using it while raiding passing alien ships. The underrated Star Trek: Beyond explained that this process prolonged their lives but mutated their DNA and caused them to take on some of the biological traits of their victims, which is why Edison’s once-human form morphed into a more alien-like appearance. He’s essentially a hybrid of all the victims whose lifeforce he drained.
As Star Trek Beyond progresses, Krall gradually takes on more human features as a result of using the energy transference technology on several human Enterprise crew members and morphs back into what he originally looked like as Edison. Though he regains his human form towards the end of Star Trek Beyond, Krall/Edison doesn’t regain his humanity and pushes forward with his plans, forcing Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk to exterminate the wayward Starfleet officer-turned-alien warlord.
