After production on the film was completed, and a month before the release, Anton Yelchin died in a freak vehicle accident at age 27. During the ending credits, there is a dedication that reads, "For Anton." J.J. Abrams announced that Chekov would not be recast, "I would say you can't replace him. There will be no new casting. I can't imagine that, and I think Anton deserves better."
Simon Pegg revealed in a press conference that the character Jaylah was inspired by Jennifer Lawrence in the film Winter's Bone (2010). "We were trying to create this very independent character, but we didn't have a name for it," Pegg said. "So we just called it 'Jennifer-Lawrence-In-Winter's-Bone.'" "That's a long name," the writer and actor joked. "So it started getting tiring always saying, well Jennifer-Lawrence-In-Winter's-Bone is fighting here. So then we started calling her J-Law, and then she became Jaylah."
Simon Pegg identified the space station as "Starbase Yorktown" in early interviews. "Yorktown" was the original name of the starship in Gene Roddenberry's early script treatments for Star Trek (1966), before this was changed to "Enterprise".
A montage of images of the Enterprise traveling the galaxy plays over the closing credits. Among these, is a brief glimpse of the "giant green space hand" previously mentioned by Mr. Scott.
When Captain James T. Kirk and crew first enter Yorktown's reception area, an announcement can be heard over the intercom referring to a starship with the registry number NCC-2893 just arriving. This is a reference to the U.S.S. Stargazer (NCC-2893), the first ship that Captain Jean-Luc Picard commanded on Star Trek: La nouvelle génération (1987).
Carlo Ancelotti: The legendary football manager appears for a minor cameo in this film, he plays a scientist walking out a door on the Enterprise. In a Sky Sports interview, he explained he has a good relationship with the family of Zoe Saldaña, so when he was offered the role, being a huge fan since childhood, he couldn't refuse.
Fiona Vroom: The title guest star of Lolani (2014) appears as an Orion crew member during the Captain's Log scene near the film's beginning.