The cast of Star Trek doesn’t have scripts yet for their fourth film.
The new Star Trek film is a go, mostly. While the surviving principal cast has all elected to return, it appears as though the project isn’t as far as long as it’s been hinted at being. With the film set for a 2023 holiday release, you’d imagine that if the film was announced and the cast selected there’d be a script, right?
Well, not so fast.
According to Chris Pine, via the AP (and TrekMovie.com), the lead actor and modern-day Captain James T. Kirk still has not gotten a script yet.
"Yeah, of course, I would love to. I’m thrilled. I mean, this is the best gig of all time. [I’m] looking forward to reading a script, looking forward to getting back to work, looking forward to seeing the rest of the gang. Yeah."
And his wording is interesting. He said “reading a script”. Not “the” script. That makes it sound like there isn’t even a story in place just yet.
Is there a story in place for Star Trek 4 just yet?
Considering that Pine doesn’t even know the general plot of the film, let alone has seen a script, should tell you this is not the usual development cycle. Usually, actors get scripts, and then they agree to the role. Sometimes that’s not the case when you’re doing a franchise like Star Trek, as actors sign on for X-amount of movies, but Pine’s deal was allegedly up.
He has made it clear in the past that he didn’t want to return for a fourth film and wasn’t interested in doing Star Trek again. Money talks, however.
You’d think that Pine would have wanted to read a new script before agreeing to come back for a fourth film. That doesn’t appear to be the case, and if you add on the fact that the cast was allegedly surprised to be named in the announcement for the fourth film, you can start to get the feeling that this Star Trek is not being developed in a conventional manner.
Pine even acknowledges that in the interview when asked, “So you trust them that much that you signed on without a script?”
To which Pine replied, “I don’t trust anybody, but I’m excited.”
This may not bold well for the cast, crew, and fans alike.