Former ‘Star Trek 4’ director reveals the tortured sequel is still alive in some form

Everything was going so well for the Kelvin timeline of the Star Trek film franchise. Though Beyond and Into Darkness didn’t quite reach the heights of their critically acclaimed 2009 predecessor, they were certainly no slouches either, and proved that this era of revisiting beloved IPs doesn’t always have to be the exhausting plight it’s made out to be.

Unfortunately, the tentatively titled Star Trek 4 has been one long bump in the road for this otherwise high-flying reboot. Having technically been in development since 2015, the film has seen names such as Quentin Tarantino and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) come and go from the project, a December 2023 release date get retracted from Paramount’s slate, and not a single new update since the summer of last year. Indeed, describing Star Trek 4‘s development as a slow crawl would be a bit too polite.

Nevertheless, it somehow hasn’t totally run out of steam. In an interview with Collider, Matt Shakman, who was the most recent name tapped to direct the film before jumping ship for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, assured that development on Star Trek 4 was still very much happening, and that he wouldn’t even be able to talk about his previous involvement given that the trajectory of the film apparently hasn’t changed much since his departure.

“I think what they’re still working on is a version of what I have been working on for the time that I was involved.”

Shakman was brought onto the Star Trek 4 project in the summer of 2021 after his success in directing the MCU’s first Disney Plus miniseries WandaVision, departing in August of last year to helm the franchise’s Fantastic Four reboot. It’s an oddly poetic turn of events for the the project; the very thing that led to securing its director was exactly what took him away.

Shakman or no Shakman, Paramount is going to have to step on the gas a bit more if it wants to get Star Trek 4 off the ground in a timely manner. The first three Kelvin-era flicks may have given them a nice, reputable cushion, but, as with any film, the studio want to avoid as many delays as possible from here on out.