Star Trek 4 was the Voyage Home was one of the best performing, most beloved entries in the Star Trek movie series, from all appearances the Kelvin Timeline version of Star Trek will not be getting a fourth movie.
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Immediately following the release of 2016’s Star Trek: Beyond which was said to be a bit of a disappointment to the studio there was a surprising announcement that Paramount would go full speed ahead with Star Trek 4 and that we would be seeing it very quickly. While it’s not unusual for announcements of this nature to be made quickly after the release of an entry in a franchise it was a little strange due to the struggles Star Trek: Beyond had at the box office.
A short time later it was announced that Quentin Tarantino had pitched his own version of Star Trek with a story based upon the classic episode City on the Edge of Forever, in which Captain Kirk and Spock travel back to Earth circa 1930s by means of a gateway to all of history, known as the Guardian of Forever, to save Dr. McCoy who had accidentally traveled back in a drug induced stupor and inadvertently made massive changes to the timeline by saving the life of one Edith Keeler. The premise is an extremely strong one for a movie to visit, and given the nature of the Guardian of Forever it wouldn’t need to be tied to the Star Trek: The Original Series crew.
While both were said to be in active development, with Star Trek 4 having hired director S.J. Clarkson, and Tarantino’s version having hired Mark L. Smith to write, however the past few months have been littered with news and rumours of a pay dispute between Paramount and proposed Star Trek 4 co-stars Chris Pine (Captain James T. Kirk) and Chris Hemsworth (Captain George Kirk) which seemed to have reached an impasse.
Today it was announced that S.J. Clarkson has been tapped to produce and direct a pilot for the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series in development at HBO following her sudden availability due to a project being shelved. By all appearances the shelved project is Star Trek 4.
Some fans will celebrate the potential end of the Kelvin timeline…
The series has received mix reviews from fans, and some will certainly celebrate the potential end of this particular timeline, however as the sole vehicle for bringing Star Trek to the big screen over the past ten years it has been an important part of Star Trek either way you lean. It should be mourned if lost.
We await word from Paramount for official confirmation, until then here’s hoping one of the two projects will move forward in the near future.