The fourth movie in the latest Star Trek series is officially moving forward with Noah Hawley directing and Chris Pine returning.
Star Trek Beyond was unfortunately a box office disappointment, which caused some hang-ups with the planned fourth film in the series that was originally planned to be directed by S. J. Clarkson. Unfortunately, a pay dispute involving Chris Pine set the movie back significantly, and S. J. Clarkson went on to direct a pilot of a Game of Thrones show that now won’t see the light of day. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley is now in final negotiations to take on the fourth film in the Star Trek Kelvin Timeline series, and seems to have convinced Chris Pine to come back to command the Enterprise once again.
Fans of Quentin Tarantino, fret not; the Noah Hawley project is unrelated to his standalone movie, which is still moving forward, and will presumably not involve Chris Pine or the cast of the Kelvin Timeline movies. That project will be scripted by The Revenant writer Mark L. Smith. As of right now, the other members of the Star Trek Kelvin Timeline crew are also expected to appear once more in Noah Hawley’s film, including Spock actor Zachary Quinto and Nyota Uhura actress Zoe Saldana. Pavel Chekov actor Anton Yelchin died before the release of Star Trek Beyond, and it remains to be seen how the actor’s death will be addressed.
The Star Trek Kelvin Timeline exists as the result of Spock utilizing an artificially-created black hole to destroy a supernova, but the Romulan Nero tried to kill him as a revenge for his planet being destroyed. Both end up in an alternate version of the past, which is subsequently changed from the original in various, significant ways. The original premise that was being used for Star Trek 4 was to have Chris Pine’s James Tiberius Kirk somehow reunite with his father, Chris Hemsworth’s George Samuel Kirk, who was presumed dead after saving hundreds of lives from Nero. However, it appears that that premise is out the window as of now, as Noah Hawley will be working on a new story.
Star Trek 4 is currently in development at Paramount Pictures.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
