Zoe Saldana thinks there’s more to Star Trek 4 delay than scheduling

Star Trek 4 has been removed from Paramount’s roster of movies for next year, and Zoe Saldana thinks there more to it than just scheduling.

After Matt Shakman, who’d been set to direct Star Trek 4, departed the movie earlier this year, it didn’t come as a surprise to any of us that Paramount Pictures moved the film’s release from its December 2023 schedule. But it did come as a disappointment and not only to us. The stars of the film want to make the movie, and Zoe Saldana, who portrayed Nyota Uhura on the first three of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies, confirmed that when she was a guest on the most recent episode of Deadline’s 20 Questions Podcast [via Trekmovie].

Saldana reiterated what Chris Pine had said about his fellow stars in that they’re all on the same page and would love nothing more than to come back to do the movie. While she did say that they couldn’t manage to get the entire cast and crew to come together, she added that she thought it had something else to do with the project.

"We were in touch with J.J. and we were trying to sort of see if we were going to be able to this past fall. I don’t think it was possible. I have my sort of ideas that maybe it was just like schedules were very… we couldn’t manage to get a whole cast and a whole crew to sort of come together. But I think as well it probably has something else to do with the project. But I know that we’re all on the same page that we would love nothing more than to be able to come back."

Zoe Saldana might be on to something when it comes to the delay

Star Trek 4 has had issues since its release was announced without the cast being notified in advance. And it never has been on solid footing even before then. Brian Robbins, who took over Paramount Pictures last September, talked about a potential theatrical release of Star Trek: Prodigy, but in when asked about the status of live-action films, his reponse got a little cloudier.

"There’s no doubt that big theatrical movies are the beacon that ignite franchises. We’re in it and I don’t really have anything to say because I’m waiting for the development to be delivered. I can’t wait to get going on it, but we’re not there yet but we need to get there soon."

Though a release was announced for Star Trek 4 in February of this year, nothing concrete had really occurred besides securing a director which didn’t last very long. Since the release was cancelled, we’ve heard nothing more about the movie, and, with the approaching holidays, it’s probably safe to say we won’t for a while. And it’s also time for the powers-that-be to simply say they don’t know when or if this movie is going to happen.