The Chris Pine-led Star Trek franchise is set to return in 2023, with a fourth movie in the rebooted series created by JJ Abrams now officially confirmed. Fans were delighted to hear that the S.S. Enterprise crew would finally be reuniting, after it was feared this may never happen due to initial talks breaking down and numerous other Star Trek projects falling by the wayside.
At an investors event for Paramount, the studio behind the series, executive Brian Robbins and producer JJ Abrams made the announcement that a breakthrough had been made. Although exact details are not clear at this time, it is hoped that all, or most, of the original cast will return.
Since the rebooted franchise’s debut in 2009, Chris Pine and his Starfleet team, containing stars such as Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldaña, and Karl Urban, have travelled the depths of space in a trilogy of popular science fiction movies. But, hopes for a fourth movie in the series looked to be shelved when contractual discussions between Paramount and Chris Pine broke down.
Paramount has been trying to bring the cast together for a sequel since their last outing in 2018’s Star Trek Beyond, which also starred Idris Elba as the villain. But talks with Pine, and MCU star Chris Hemsworth, who appeared briefly in the Star Trek series, had seemingly halted any hope of that fourth movie ever arriving.
That must have changed now, though, with Abrams quoted as saying Star Trek 4 “will be shooting by the end of the year,” and that the new movie will feature “our original cast and some new characters that I think are going to be really fun and exciting.”
In the recent past, plans for a different approach to the Star Trek properties have been and gone, with filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Noah Hawley previously attached to now abandoned projects. In the interim, Star Trek has predominantly featured on the small screen, as various science fiction TV series, such as Star Trek: Picard.
The currently untitled Star Trek 4 is set to arrive 22 December, 2023, according to the announcement. The space adventure movie will be helmed by WandaVision director, Matt Shakman.