Star Trek 4 is shrouded in mystery and defeat. The sequel to Star Trek: Beyond on J.J. Abram’s Kelvin timeline, is currently stuck in dry dock. There have been plans for Paramount to make the movie for years, and sometimes it even seems like they’re going to do it. Fans were hopeful last year when it looked like things were going to go ahead. But right when the stars aligned, director Matt Shakman stepped down from the project to work on Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot instead.

Trekkies everywhere are heartbroken. Although Paramount continues to produce good Star Trek content like Strange New Worlds and Picard, it doesn’t look like we’re going to get that big blockbuster film any time soon. That being said, it’s not unreasonable to hope for a movie in the future. Star Trek 4 is one of Paramount’s biggest, untapped titles, and the stars are still up for another journey into the final frontier. Things are looking dark, but somewhere, out there in the vastness of Hollywood, there is a way to make this movie. Fans still whisper, and celebrities still talk, but for now, Star Trek 4 is dead in the water.

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Star Trek 4: The Plot

     Bad Robot Productions

There were a lot of rumors about the plot coming up to Star Trek 4’s removal from Paramount’s release slate. When Paramount first announced the sequel, they had nothing. Even the stars and their agents were surprised that they were going ahead with the movie when apparently, they hadn’t told a soul. The plan was to secure investors first and sort the details out later, which they did, eventually.

When writers started sitting down at their laptops, there was much talk about where a story could go. J.J. Abrams was even having conversations with Quentin Tarantino about giving him an opportunity to write a Star Trek movie. Yes, those rumors are true, but they were happening in parallel to Paramount’s plans to continue Abram’s Kelvin timeline. Eventually, Tarantino backed off saying it wasn’t something he was interested in.

One of the biggest possibilities for a script came with grabbing Chris Hemsworth out of the Marvel universe and getting him to reprise his role from the 2009 film as George Kirk, James T. Kirk’s father. This version of the script made it far enough through development to actually reach the actors. In an interview with Josh Horowitz, Hemsworth explained how he felt about the story:

Clearly, the plot wasn’t for everyone. Eventually, that pitch was scrapped and writers began working on another that would be a direct sequel to Star Trek: Beyond. The hope was to reassemble the old cast and work more directly on following the Kelvin timeline. That was the state of things when Shakman dropped out of the project to direct the Fantastic Four reboot and Paramount removed Star Trek 4 from their release schedule. Some recent news has given fans faint sparks of hope however when Sofia Boutella said she would be happy to return and Nick Cage has declared himself a Trekkie. Fans have begun an outcry, saying that Nicolas Cage is exactly what Star Trek needs. Some have even wondered if he could be cast as a villain.

“It wasn’t what I was thinking it would have been or could have been. And I thought, ‘Oh, cool, let’s figure that out and keep going’ and then I think everyone just got busy and so on. It’d be a bit weird now to flash back to your father and ‘Why is he so much older than when he died?’”

Star Trek 4: The Cast

     Paramount Pictures

The original hope for the movie — no matter which way the plot went — was to get as much of the original cast back on board as possible. Although talks fell through with Chris Hemsworth and his part in the film, Chris Pine ended up making a solid deal to return as Captain James T. Kirk. Zachary Quinto had been confirmed as Spock, and John Cho would come back as Sulu. Simon Pegg, even though he helped write Star Trek: Beyond and played Scotty, made no commitments either way, but it would be likely that he would return due to his major involvement with the films.

Karl Urban, who plays Bones, said that he had some scheduling conflicts due to his work on The Boys, but now that the schedule has changed, his participation remains to be seen. Zoe Saldaña has commented on some frustration for working in so many franchise films, but she would return if the movie was able to pull itself together. Of course, due to the untimely death of Anton Yelchin, the character of Chekov was not recast, and instead, the role was rewritten.

Release Date

Due to problems with development and the inability to find a new director, Star Trek 4 currently has no known release date.