Is Paramount Rebooting The Star Trek Movies Again?
A new batch of "Star Trek" films might be beaming their way into cinemas. While the franchise has always dominated television, "Star Trek" has seen considerable success on the silver screen, producing north of a dozen films over the last four decades.
Back in 2009, "Star Trek" was given the action-adventure blockbuster treatment thanks to maverick director J. J. Abrams. Simply titled "Star Trek," the film rebooted the entire franchise, separating what came before it by introducing the "Kelvin" timeline. This new timeline reintroduced familiar characters like Spock and Captain Kirk, and, for the most part, the reboot worked. The Abrams-directed space opera grossed over $385 million worldwide, emerging as the then-highest-grossing film in the franchise. Naturally, Paramount Pictures began to cook up a sequels, with the controversial "Into Darkness" debuting in 2013 and "Beyond" in 2016.
Since then, however, it's been radio silence. While "Star Trek" is still making waves on Paramount+ with shows like "Discovery" and "Strange New Worlds," their cinematic footprint has all but disappeared. However, a new report from Variety suggests that, with the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike over, Paramount is ready to reboot the "Star Trek" franchise. This is somewhat of a surprising move considering Paramount has always maintained their interest in continuing the "Kelvin" timeline with a potential "Star Trek 4."
Paramount has tried to greenlight a number of Star Trek 4 ideas
With scriptwriters back to work, Variety says that Paramount is hoping to have writers fine-tune scripts for a planned reboot of the sci-fi franchise. Story details are non-existent for the upcoming reboot and it's unknown which writers are working on the project for Paramount. Seeing as the studio is only now having writers polish their scripts, it's fair to say that fans shouldn't expect anything anytime soon. That said, if reboot does manifest, it'll mean Paramount is open to the possibility of abandoning the "Kelvin" timeline that J. J. Abrams carefully created.
Following the release of "Star Trek Beyond," Paramount Pictures was quite intent on continuing the various misadventures of the "Kelvin" inhabitants. Execs pursued a number of ideas, some of which could have been quite interesting. There was, of course, the Quentin Tarantino-penned R-rated flick. And while plot details were slim on the "Pulp Fiction" filmmaker's project, it was clearly going to take the franchise in a daring new direction. Unfortunately, it fell apart, like subsequent ideas that Paramount was interested in.
While a number of ideas regarding a so-called "Star Trek 4" were thrown around, the most interesting one involved folding Chris Hemsworth back into the franchise. The opening minutes of Abrams' "Star Trek" saw a young, pre-"Thor" Hemsworth play Kirk's (Chris Prine) father. Penned by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the film would have brought Hemsworth's deceased character back for an adventure with his son.
Why a Star Trek reboot makes sense
While nostalgia is certainly powerful, it's difficult to know if a "Star Trek 4" with the original "Kelvin" timeline cast would be successful. While those films have their fans, others criticized the action-oriented focus, steering away from the big and bold ideas that the franchise is known for. Back in 2009, when "Star Trek" debuted, the film felt kinetic and fresh, serving as an exciting follow-up to "Enterprise."
Currently, however, "Star Trek" projects have mostly gone back to their roots thanks to the shows that currently populate Paramount+. For Paramount, it makes sense to abandon a Chris Pine-led "Star Trek 4" and move forward with a cinematic project that feels more in line with what's currently working. The stars from the "Kelvin" timeline have largely diversified their CVs, with Uhura star Zoe Salanda headlining the "Avatar" films and Dr. McCoy actor Karl Urban lending his talents to "The Boys."
The key word from Variety's report is "scripts," implying that multiple ideas are currently in the mix for a planned reboot. Perhaps Paramount will take a small-scale approach with their reboot, giving the project a limited budget. Or, perhaps, they'll double down on Abrams' vision, allowing "Star Trek" another opportunity to become an action juggernaut. Only time will tell what Paramount does with a reboot considering they've spent the last few years sitting on "Star Trek 4."