Paramount Pictures had been feverishly trying to get “Star Trek 4” into production and even attempted to tell shareholders that the movie was moving forward, only for the cast to be puzzled, since their contracts hadn’t been finalized, and more delays were ahead, as salaries/budgets potentially being the main roadblock. A report from Variety has now revealed that in the wake of the studio’s recent acquisition by David Ellison‘s Skydance Media, the fourth installment is no longer happening as studio brass is said to be aiming for a “fresh” take on the sci-fi adventure franchise.
“The hope is to have a fresh ‘Star Trek’ movie, though the studio has moved on from the idea of bringing back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest of the ensemble from the J.J. Abrams reboot.”
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The trilogy of modern features launched by director Abrams in 2009 with his diverging “Trek” film universe (via Eric Bana‘s Romulan villain using time-travel to alter events, killing off Captain Kirk’s father played by a pre-MCU Chris Hemsworth creating the Kelvin Timeline) was expected to see the cast (Pine, Quinto, Zoe Saldaña, and Simon Pegg) return for this gestating “Star Trek 4.”
Some of the filmmakers who got involved with “Star Trek 4” over the years include Noah Hawley (“Alien: Earth”) and Matt Shakman (“The Fantastic Four: First Steps”). Alongside all this, there was also an “origin” film in the works that had Toby Haynes (“Andor”) set to direct and was going to have a script written by Seth Grahame-Smith (“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t”), which might be the option that sticks around with talk of moving away from the contemporary cast (likely over salaries).
It is a little unclear what the future holds for “Trek” in theaters, as Paramount+ has been the home of recent small-screen Starfleet adventures. Some of those projects include a streaming film “Star Trek: Section 31” led by Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh and a string of TV shows quickly becoming the face of the franchise in recent years, with “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Star Trek: Picard,” “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” “Star Trek: Prodigy,” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”
This wouldn’t be the first time a recent “Trek” film project was axed, as Quentin Tarantino and Mark L. Smith were tasked to develop their own movie that ultimately got the axe, which Pegg, the co-writer of “Star Trek Beyond,” recently teased as being as bonkers as most of us imagined.
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