Rushing Star Trek 4 into pre-production isn’t going to help its reputation

Star Trek 4 may be rushed into production but rushing it won’t help things.

At the start of October, a rumor broke that films like Star Trek 4 may be rushed into production once the writing strike was over. The idea was that they could have a quick turnaround for the franchise’s long-sought fourth Kelvin film, and finally get it made. However, there are conflicting rumors that the next Trek movie, which is supposedly coming at some point, may not be the fourth film but the first film.

A new film franchise with new characters, or new rebooted characters if Trek can’t find the innovative gene they were so famous for. But regardless of whether the next film will be the fourth of the Kelvin lineage or the first in a new one, Trek fans should expect a new film sooner rather than later.

But rushing the film out after so many years of missteps would only prove to be a problem. The franchise’s film offerings have a taint to them after Star Trek’s Into Darkness didn’t impress the hardcore fans, and Beyond failed to impress the mainstream ones.

So why does anyone think rushing the next Star Trek film is a good idea?

Star Trek’s next film needs time to develop and shouldn’t be rushed

The next film needs to be handled with care. Whether Chris Pine and company are back or not isn’t relevant, though if they return, Paramount needs to make sure that their production start date doesn’t coincide with another actor’s schedule. That’s part of the reason the film fell apart in 2022, as Paramount wanted to shoot the film while Karl Urban was already contracted to shoot for The Boys.

The franchise fell into disarray after the announcement and subsequent failings of the film in 2022, and if Paramount doesn’t have all of its ducks in a row the next time they announce a film, then all that’s going to happen is more anticipation, followed by massive waves of disappointment. You can in fact kill a fandom if you don’t protect it from failing. And the Trek film franchise’s current reputation could, somehow, get worse if Paramount doesn’t handle this correctly.