There may be two new Star Trek films coming soon.
There may be two Star Trek films coming very soon to a screen near you. There is already one Trek film in the works, with Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Lindsey Beer writing the film, and Matt Shakman directing. While rumors have the crew attached to a potential Star Trek 4, with Chris Pine eyed to return as Captain James Kirk, it could be a brand new original film. According to Giant Freakin Robot, two films are currently in the works.
"…we can now exclusively report that Paramount is also developing Star Trek movies focusing on new, original characters that we haven’t seen before. Yes, this is in addition to the recently announced movie."
This would mean the film in production and a second film to follow with a totally different cast and characters. That’s a big risk to take, considering no Trek film has ever debuted without returning characters and actors. The report does emphasize that the Shakman film is in fact Star Trek 4, with Pine and company back, but again, it’s a rumor.
An original Star Trek film is going to be hard to sell without big names
It’s kind of weird to say this but the biggest name in Star Trek 2009 (besides Leonard Nimoy) was arguably Simon Pegg or Anton Yelchin. Pegg had already blown up for Shaun of the Dead and Yelchin was in Alpha Dog a huge hit in the rental sphere (back when that was still a thing). Everyone had some name value but they weren’t the stars in 2007 during filming that they are in 2021. What made the 2009 film possible was the return of Nimoy and the crew was reimagined versions of established, fan-known characters.
If the new film is going to be all about original characters will fans even want to tune in? After all, non-fans didn’t show up to the network airing of Star Trek: Discovery, so why would they show up for a new Trek film that has nothing to with the current era of films?
You’d need huge, big-name, star power to bring fans in. Ideally, names that had never done Trek before, so the older fans don’t feel the need to compare them to their previous roles.
A huge budgeted, sci-fi epic, with Hollywood-A-listers, seems like the only way to make Trek palpable to a movie audience. Essentially, make a film that is anything but a Star Trek film.