After a rough couple of years, Star Trek appears to be in rude health right now. The Kelvin Universe big screen movies have, for the most part, been pretty well received by fans, Star Trek: Discovery is about to launch into what looks like a very exciting second season, CBS has promised us multiple new Trek TV projects, Patrick Stewart’s returning and Quentin Tarantino’s tantalizing entry into the franchise will probably take flight after he’s done with Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Of course, there’s also the as yet untitled Star Trek 4, which appears to be inching closer and closer to production.
Or at least, it was, until Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pine dropped out due to salary disputes, sending the project into a tailspin as Paramount now scrambles to figure out how to move forward from here. There’s still no word on what the studio plans to do, but Kevin Smith has taken to his Fatman on Batman podcast to weigh in on the issue.
“I think Star Trek really has no choice,” Smith says. “They can’t recast. Chris Pine is fantastic. It was chancy bringing another Kirk into the world. They found the one guy who could pull it off where it doesn’t sound like an impression, but it totally homages an entire f**king body of work in a character. So, you got to bring him back. Maybe you let go of the dad storyline if you can’t get Hemsworth to come down a little bit. But, you can’t do those Star Treks without that Kirk. He was great.”
Hopefully Paramount does something with Star Trek soon. A lot of people were excited to see the return of Hemsworth but plans apparently changed after Quentin Tarantino came knocking on the Trek door. Fingers crossed they at least get Pine back on their side.
Star Trek 4 has no release date.
Source: Fatman on Batman (via Comic Book)
