A fourth Star Trek movie featuring the "Kelvin-Verse" crew first introduced in J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot has been stuck in development hell for years at this stage, and while those involved with the project have often assured fans that Paramount Pictures hasn't completely abandoned the movie, our last update wasn't a particularly optimistic one.
"I think there’s a lot of other stuff, creative things. It’s complicated," Spock actor Zachary Quinto said during a recent convention appearance. "The fact that anything good gets made is kind of a miracle. I think it’s about different people having different agendas and ideas about what it will be. And I don’t know if and when it will happen. And if coalesces again, and we come back, and we’re able to do it, wonderful. If not, we had a great run."
The "different agendas" quote is likely a reference to the sheer amount of ideas that have been considered and creative teams that have been attached to the Star Trek Beyond follow-up over the years. One early concept would have focused on a reunion between Chris Pine's Captain Kirk and his father, played in 2009's Star Trek by Chris Hemsworth, and there was even an R-rated take from Quentin Tarantino in the works at one point.
Despite all of the roadblocks Star Trek 4 has been faced with, it seems the film is still moving forward.
Here's what writer Lindsey Anderson-Beer had to say to Collider while promoting her new horror prequel, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines.
"It is, it's still on the tracks," she responded when asked if a fourth movie was ever going to happen. "I love that project, and it was another one that I had to hop off of to direct this movie, and that was a hard thing to do. But I love everybody involved with that project."
Encouraging, but, as far as we know, the film is still without a director since Matt Shakman departed the project to helm Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four reboot.
In his last interview on the subject, Shakman said that, even though his Trek movie would have been a "large tent-pole film," he believes the universe is better suited to a slightly smaller budget.
"I actually think that the way forward on a Star Trek movie is maybe to make one that's like $30 to $50 million, that's hard sci-fi, aimed right at the fans. In our day and age now, any time you go to space in a movie it's expensive. When you're flying around in the Enterprise, even if you're going to land and be in one place for a long time, it's still pretty expensive."