Star Trek is experiencing a nice little resurgence at the moment. The second season of Discovery went down pretty well with everyone, fans are starting to get excited for the imminent return of Picard in his own show, there are a couple different animated series in the works and let’s not forget that Quentin Tarantino is said to be putting together his own unique take on the franchise. But within all that, something still isn’t right.
We’re talking about Star Trek 4, of course, the much anticipated sequel to J.J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot that’s been stuck in development hell for a while now. As 2016’s Star Trek Beyond only brought in $343 million globally on a $185 million budget, the studio was unwilling to shell out too much money for the fourth installment and contract negotiations with both Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth stalled. That was some time ago and for many months, it’s looked like the project was all but dead. But at long last, Deadline has brought us a promising update.
According to the outlet, Star Trek 4 is now back on the table. In fact, it’s even got a new writer and director in the form of Noah Hawley, who’s in final talks with Paramount to board the project.
Better yet is that Deadline says Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg and Karl Urban will all be returning. And while the details end there, this is hugely exciting news. For one, you’ve got most of the core cast from the past few films all back for more and as for Hawley, he’s an immensely talented individual, perhaps best known for his work on Legion and Fargo.
Where the story may go and who else may be returning is still unclear, but Star Trek 4 has seemingly flickered back to life and with the engines now revved up and ready to go, you can expect to learn more shortly. Watch this space.