What’s really happening with Kelvin Star Trek 4?

The subject of Kelvin Star Trek 4 has been one of the most talked about over the past few months, and there seems to be no end in sight for the continued debate.

Despite reports that Star Trek 4 has been shelved the stories have continued to pop up on a regular basis every month or so and don’t seem poised to stop any time soon, but if these stories are continuing to be propagated by writers, directors, stars and even potential directors, writers and stars why can’t the franchise gain enough traction to move forward?

The common answer is that potential co-stars Chris Pine (James T. Kirk) and Chris Hemsworth (George Kirk) have reportedly walked away from the project due to a pay dispute, but if that’s the case we’re all forced to wonder why they don’t just move ahead without one or both of them?

Bad Robot…. Bad Timing.

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The force behind the 2009 relaunch of the franchise was none other than J.J. Abrams and his company Bad Robot, who went on to maintain a deal with Paramount through 2018, however with that deal now over and Bad Robot now a free agent searching for either a massive extension or a new studio to call home for the coming decades there doesn’t appear to be anyone at the table for the Kirk’s to negotiate with.

While it seems unlikely that Bad Robot and Paramount will come to an extension agreement at this point we actually have a pretty solid option already sort of in place….

CBS and Viacom merger, again…

Talks have again begun to heat up over the past few months and it looks inevitable that CBS and Viacom will merge again bringing the film and television branches of Star Trek back together for the first time since 2005.

Assuming the merger happens this leaves Alex Kurtzman and his team in a prime position to take over the movie side of the franchise along with television, something reporters have already had him diplomatically musing about during some interviews.

Kurtzman and company have already had some experience working in the Kelvin Timeline before joining the Television side to help launch Star Trek Discovery and all the other series in the pipeline at CBS.

What does this mean for Star Trek 4?

It seems unlikely that we’ll have any concrete green light for anything on the film side until someone is in place to oversee the franchise on the Paramount side, though it is entirely possible they sign a one-off deal with an established name like Quentin Tarantino should the merger or search for a new key holder drag on long enough that such a name became available.

And the studio could also potentially sign a director to push forward with the Simon Pegg proposal for a fourth entry in the franchise, allowing them to move forward with new producers, but if the studio were keen to do so we would likely have already seen traction with almost the entire cast having stated their wish to continue.

As sad as it is for Kelvin Timeline fans, it looks like we need to wait for a corporate merger to get more information.