Rumor: Star Trek 4 is looking for a female director

There’s another rumor circulating about Star Trek 4.

And this time, it’s about the director. The production still has Matt Shakman listed as the director of the long awaited fourth installment in the Kelvin timeline Star Trek series on IMDB. It’s listed as “untitled Star Trek sequel,” but, Giant Freakin Robot is claiming that the producers are now looking for another female director. According to its “trusted and proven source,” the studio has reached out to Cate Shortland, who directed 2021’s Black Widow, and she is now on the shortlist for consideration.

Back in 2018, S.J. Clarkson was tapped as the first female director in the franchise’s history, but that went by the wayside after negotiations fell through with Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth. Then the helm of the yet unproduced movie was handed over to Noah Hawley who suggested that the movie start with a whole new set of characters. His idea and the film was put on hold again in 2020. Then, in July 2021, Matt Shakman was announced as the new director, and, until we hear differently, still is.

So what’s happening with Star Trek 4, and why the changes?

Directors have to make money, too, so when projects are put on hold, they have to go where the money is. Some may choose to stay with the project while others move on. In the case of Clarkson, she moved on. While Shakman is still considered the director until we receive official confirmation yet again, Giant Freakin Robot thinks that the studio might be looking for a female director because none of the thirteen features in the Trek film franchise have been directed by a woman.

Regardless, we won’t know anything until this rumor is confirmed or denied. Until then, we’d be  happy just to know for a solid fact that the movie is going to happen. There is one suggestion that Giant Freakin Robot makes that I can get behind: to get Roxann Dawson to direct the new movie. If anyone knows Star Trek, it’s the woman who portrayed Chief Engineer B’Elanna Torres on Star Trek: Voyager. A prolific director now, she’d bring some comfort to the fans who are concerned about what will actually happen on screen once the new movie gets underway.