It would be fair to say that the fourth installment in the rebooted Star Trek franchise has struggled to really get going. The movie was announced shortly after the release of Justin Lin’s Beyond, but ever since then the project has been hit with a series of setbacks. Chris Hemsworth was originally set to return as George Kirk before he dropped out, with star Chris Pine also seemingly departing the series after a pay dispute.
However, despite losing original director S.J. Clarkson, Star Trek 4 seems to be up and running again, with Legion showrunner Noah Hawley recently hired behind the camera. Not only that, but Pine agreed to return to the fold and despite not quite being in active development just yet, things certainly seem to be looking up.
There’s also been plenty of chatter about Quentin Tarantino’s contribution to the Star Trek universe, with the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood filmmaker once again making it sound like a remote possibility. Star Trek 4 seems the more likely to reach our screens first, but in a recent interview, star and Beyond co-writer Simon Pegg sounded unsure about whether or not the returning cast from the J.J. Abrams’ Kelvin timeline will even be a part of the movie at all.
“I don’t know anything about it. I think Noah Hawley’s been hired to write something for Star Trek, which is very exciting. He’s a brilliant writer and always creates interesting stuff. Whether or not we’re involved with that, I don’t know. I don’t think so, and I don’t think Noah’s thing is necessarily going to be Star Trek 4.”
For someone with such a prominent role in the franchise, it seems strange for Pegg to be so blissfully unaware about these recent developments, with the 49 year-old also saying that he isn’t even sure if Star Trek 4 is what Hawley was hired to work on.
The three previous entries were all solid-if-unspectacular box office hits, with Beyond being the lowest-grossing yet after failing to even crack $350 million globally, with the continued delays likely caused by Paramount being put off by the huge cost involved in creating a sci-fi blockbuster when the financial returns haven’t been that great. But with any luck, this upcoming fourth installment will get things back on track.
