The cast for J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie just got a lot more interesting. Not that a movie that put together Leonard Nimoy, Zachary Quinto, and Simon Pegg wasn’t already interesting, but it really appears Abrams is trying to diversify his cast. I mean, Pegg brings in that British comedy audience. Chris Pine brings in that female audience, and now prominent African American filmmaker Tyler Perry has been added to the cast. That’s right: Madea is headed for the Final Frontier.

According to a scoop by UGO, Perry is playing the head of Starfleet, and no, he ain’t no stinkin’ alien like we’ve seen in previous Trek movies. I think that’s fantastic. Perry can play commanding without being over-the-top militant. He can be a “speak softly” kind of leader, and still keep the feeling of being completely in control. But the news actually gets better if you don’t mind spoilers. If you don’t want to know more about the Trek storyline, stop reading here. I mean it!

Still reading? Okay, you’ve been warned. Apparently the scene in question involves Perry leading some sort of courtroom event regarding young James T. Kirk’s expulsion from Starfleet Academy. It turns out, Kirk cheated on a certain test. Which test? Why, the famed Kobayashi Maru exercise, the unsolvable test. Trek fans already know about this, because Kirk revealed his solution to the unbeatable test in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. By Khan Kirk was proud of his solution, “changing the conditions of the test.” But in this movie it looks like he’s in hot water over it.

So Perry is presiding over this court-martial, with Kirk accused of cheating. Kirk asks to know how his manipulation of the test was discovered and is told there was a witness. When Kirk demands to know who the witness is… Zachary Quinto stands forward. That’s right – it looks like Spock told on everyone’s favorite captain.

This is actually pretty exciting Star Trek news and builds my interest in the movie a little bit more. I like Perry and it’ll be interesting to see him in something that isn’t his own project. I have no idea how this arrangement came forth – is Perry a closet Trek fan? Is Abrams a fan of Perry’s work? Is this all just coincidental? Regardless, it’s about time Star Trek had something exciting reported on it. This may just be the spark I needed to make me want to be interested in this movie again.