The fourth installment in the Star Trek Kelvin timeline was initially announced with S.J. Clarkson set to direct, and the story would see Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk reunite with his father George, as played by Chris Hemsworth in the prologue of J.J. Abrams’ opener via the same temporal shenanigans that allowed Leonard Nimoy to appear as Spock Prime in the first two chapters.
However, both of the Chrises eventually ended dropping out, although Pine was eventually convinced to return, only for Star Trek 4 to fall into developmental purgatory. WandaVision director Matt Shakman was recently hired to helm an untitled blockbuster that was being fast-tracked into production and had already been dated for a June 2023 release, and while it hasn’t been confirmed yet, the talk is that negotiations to reunite Abrams’ Enterprise crew are a priority.
We’re now hearing from our sources – the same ones who told us Discovery‘s Captain Pike was getting his own spinoff long before Strange New Worlds was announced – that Paramount are determined for Shakman’s Star Trek to bring the project full circle and have both Pine and Hemsworth on board to revisit the original concept of them teaming up for an intergalactic adventure.
Of course, this is entirely dependent on whether the stars agree to sign on the dotted line, and we haven’t heard a peep out of Star Trek 4 since Shakman was first confirmed for the director’s chair earlier this month. The fact a script is already in place written by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet would seem to indicate both the filmmaker and the studio know where the narrative is headed, though, and reuniting two of Hollywood’s pre-eminent Chrises would be one way to guarantee strong box office numbers given their respective levels of star power and popularity.