Star Trek 4 has had one rocky pre-production period. Following 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, the follow-up was set to bring back all the Kelvin timeline cast plus Chris Hemsworth as James T.’s dad, George Kirk, thanks to some time travel trickery. However, Paramount failed to nail down both Hemsworth and Chris Pine, which meant that the script had to be chucked out, with director S.J. Clarkson going with it. The project finally started up again last fall though when Fargo creator Noah Hawley signed on to write and direct.
At the time, it was reported that the Kelvin cast would likely return, with Pine looking a cert to be involved once more. We Got This Covered has heard from our sources, however – the same ones who told us National Treasure 3 was in development months ago, and that Transformers is being rebooted, both of which ended up being true – that things have changed since then, with some creative differences blossoming between Paramount and Hawley. The studio is pushing for Pine and company to return, apparently, but Hawley allegedly doesn’t want them. Both sides are attempting to come to some sort of compromise, but it’s feasible that they won’t be able to. In which case, Paramount will part ways with the Legion showrunner and find a new filmmaker (again).
Of course, the news that Hawley wouldn’t necessarily want to inherit the Abrams cast isn’t that surprising. Considering his work on the two FX shows previously mentioned, in which he took source material from the Coen brothers and Marvel Comics and made it his own, he’d no doubt want to put his own spin on Star Trek as well. As it’s been a decade since 2009’s Star Trek, you could argue that it’s time for a reboot of the cinematic franchise anyways, but apparently Paramount wants to hold on to its star-studded Enterprise crew.
Remember, Star Trek 4 is the only Trek movie in the works now that Quentin Tarantino has all but confirmed he won’t be directing his R-rated effort anymore. So, the studio will be pouring all their attention into this project. Whether this means they’ll ultimately fall out with Noah Hawley, we’ll have to see. Hopefully they’ll be able to reach an agreement though so that the film doesn’t hit another roadblock.
