Star Trek Beyond has been filming in Vancouver for the last month, but has been doing most of its work indoors, where prying eyes can’t get an early look at the new costumes and new characters. Well, that all changed this week as director Justin Lin took the Star Trek cast and crew outside to shoot a big action scene and we’ve got an exclusive first look at the film, including the new Starfleet uniforms and a major new character in the franchise!

Stars Chris Pine, Simon Pegg (who also co-wrote the script with Doug Jung), Anton Yelchin and newcomer Sofia Boutella (the woman with the knives for feet from Kingsman: The Secret Service) were rehearsing and filming for about three hours. In the scene, Kirk and Boutella’s character emerge from a damaged spacecraft (surrounded on set by a giant green screen), while the latter uses some sort of device before Scotty and Chekov safely, but carefully, exit the vessel.

Star Trek Beyond
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Star Trek Beyond
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Star Trek Beyond
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Star Trek Beyond
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The first thing that immediately stands out are the rugged new Starfleet uniforms worn by Kirk and Chekov (Scotty is still wearing his red). With the leather, boots and knee-pads, these look far more utilitarian than anything formal worn on-board; perhaps something for an away mission (both Kirk and Chekov have their phases and Tricorders handy). Scotty, in a more traditional uniform, may have tagged along for the mission.

The second thing is our first look at Boutella’s unnamed character, which is described as a “lead role” in the film. Exactly who she’s playing is unclear and her look does not seem to be immediately indicative of any existing Star Trek race. Judging from the set up of the scene, it looks at least at this stage of the film, she appears to be partnering with the Enterprise crew. And, her dress (like Kirk and Chekov’s) is indicative that she’s ready for combat. She’s using a piece of equipment that doesn’t look like anything Starfleet cooked up (the blue circles on its front, seem to match similar circles on her belt); perhaps that’s her ship they’re climbing out of?

We still don’t know much, if anything at all, about the plot of Star Trek Beyond, but director Justin Lin previously said, “What we experienced in the TV show hasn’t been touched on yet. That sets up an opportunity for exploration and the deeper you go, the more you are examining humanity. Those are the things that I absorbed as a kid and hope to tap into.” Pegg added that when he wrote that script, he was trying to make it less “Star Trek-y”: “Let’s make a western or a thriller or a heist movie, then populate that with Star Trek characters so it’s more inclusive to an audience that might be a little bit reticent.”

In addition to Pine, Yelchin, Pegg and Boutella, the film also stars Idris Elba (as the film’s new villain), Joe Taslim, Lydia Wilson, and Trek regulars Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho and Deep Roy.

Star Trek Beyond opens in theaters on July 8, 2016.

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