With several movies floating around these days, the next Star Trek movie should keep it simple.
If Paramount is hell-bent on doing a fourth Star Trek film in the Kelvin universe featuring Chris Pine, the best bet is to just do the script that makes the most sense. Which one is that? The one that features as a sequel to Star Trek: Beyond. Yes, there is apparently a sequel to Beyond and while some may give the film harsh reviews, it’s important to note that the rumored sequel scrip isn’t necessarily tied directly to the events of Beyond, just that it’s a sequel to it.
The other two films that are rumored to exist are of course Noah Hawley’s Star Trek, which was rumored to feature a galaxy-wide plague story, and Quintin Tarantino and his R-rated version, which apparently isn’t dead just yet.
"Hawley’s movie is one of three Star Trek film projects that Watts and Paramount are currently considering, along with Tarantino’s R-Rated version and another written as a sequel to Justin Lin’s Star Trek Beyond."
If those are the only three options that Star Trek should go towards, then it makes sense that it’s the sequel treatment to Discovery.
Hawley’s film wasn’t good enough to get put into production even before the pandemic and now that the country is thrust into the middle of this mess, it’s entirely unlikely it’ll ever see the light of day. As for Tarantino’s version of Star Trek; hard pass. Shows like Lower Decks already alienate itself from Gene Roddenberry’s more earnest idea of Trek and Taratino’s film may actually kill whatever essence of that ideal that Trek has left. The last thing we need is a Star Trek reboot of Django Unchained. Some properties and some creators just don’t mix.
It’s like putting Trent Reznor as the producer of a Taylor Swift album. Sure, on their own they’re great, but together you’re going to have too much of a culture class to work.
It may not be sexy but bringing back the surviving cast from Beyond, with Sofia Boutella replacing the dearly departed Anton Yelchin as a cast member just makes the most sense.