Simon Pegg fears Star Trek 4 would be 'tainted' after Anton Yelchin's death

Simon Pegg is keen to appear in a fourth ‘Star Trek’ film, but thinks the franchise has been “forever tainted” due to the untimely passing of Anton Yelchin.

The 54-year-old actor starred alongside Yelchin in J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi trilogy, though plans for another instalment in the series were cast into doubt after the young Hollywood star passed away at the age of 27 in June 2016 - just a month before the release of the third movie in the franchise, ‘Star Trek Beyond’.

Pegg is still hopeful of returning to the film series but knows that a shadow would be cast over any reunion by Yelchin's tragic demise.

During an appearance on Katee Sackoff’s podcast ‘The Sackoff Show’, he said: "I’d love to do more. Obviously it’s been forever tainted because we lost Anton, and that was a really hard thing for everyone involved, and for the real world, let alone anything else.

"If we do come back, if there is another opportunity to come back, then I’d love to.

"Because as we were saying earlier on, it’s a group of guys that I dearly, dearly love and don’t get to see very often. It would be good to get back together with them."

The ‘Mission: Impossible’ star isn’t the only actor clamouring for a fourth ‘Star Trek’ movie, as Pegg’s castmates Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana have also expressed their interest in returning to the franchise.

Pine, 43, explained that he would be "curious" to see what the story of the next film would involve.

Speaking to PopVerse, he said: "We all like one another a lot. I’m good friends with everybody I’ve worked with. We have a great time doing it.

"I’m a lot older now, so I would be curious where that next story lands us in terms of what it would be and what we’ve said in the press."

Meanwhile, Saldana - who played Nyota Uhura in the films - said she would be "grateful" if she was given the chance to make another ‘Star Trek’ picture.

The 46-year-old actress told ComicBook.com: "I just heard they're gearing up to do a new one with a younger, sort of, take on it ... I don't know if it's from the before or the after, but that they really still hope to grab all of us veterans and bring us back for one last round.

"Listen, I know it's a lot to wrangle a whole bunch of people with busy schedules. But working with J.J. Abrams, and for J.J. Abrams at Bad Robot, was always just a wonderful and beautiful experience for me. So, if I get to do that one last time, I would be so grateful."