It’s been a long time since we got a big-screen Star Trek movie. The last entry was 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, the third film in the Kelvin Timeline reboot series. We had the terrible Star Trek: Section 31 film on Paramount+, yet Trek has still eluded attempts for a theatrical revival. That will be changing, though, thanks to Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley.
The duo behind the delightful Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and the MCU's Spider-Man: Homecoming will write and direct a new Star Trek movie. We don’t know the details about the plot or who will star, but there are a few things fans are hopeful for with this film. From the themes to what kind of story it will be, these are three major things we hope to see in Goldstein and Daley's Star Trek movie to kick off a new era right.
Not another reboot
Surely, it's tempting to the writers to once more tell the story of how James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy met in Starfleet Academy and retell their first adventure as a crew. It’s likely they’d be pressured by it, with the Paramount Skydance Corporation wanting the tried-and-true approach of restarting a new Trek cinematic universe. Please, avoid this.
We’ve seen it already with the Kelvin Timeline movies as well as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We don’t need to see another retread of the old character dynamics. We don’t need it to be a prequel of some sort of the early days of the Federation (something that would work much better as a TV show). In short, we don’t need to look to the past but rather boldly go into the future.
Take a page from some recent comic book movies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Spider-Man films didn’t need to show Uncle Ben being killed or how Peter Parker gained his powers, nor did The Batman and James Gunn's Superman (2025) need to rehash the origins everyone already knows.
There are so many ways you can take this movie. It can avoid starships altogether and be about Federation colonists on a frontier world. It can dive into the underworld of the galaxy and explore how crime works in this universe.
It doesn’t even have to be about the Federation at all, as we’re well overdue for a movie focused on the Klingons or Romulans. It can be set in that long thousand-year period between Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Discovery’s far future to show how the Federation and galaxy evolved.
The point is, if they want to refresh Trek, Goldstein and Daley shouldn’t try to retread the same ground and characters but give fans an actual new take on this iconic franchise.
Don’t try to give us a Khan-level threat
It’s obvious how movie creators are pushed to provide an epic threat in sci-fi properties. The Kelvin films used that with every movie involving a massive evil force out to destroy planets, the Federation or an entire space city. That’s all well and good, but trying to keep that up may not be the best approach.
To use the MCU example again, Marvel fans (and even some of its actors) have openly said that a major drawback to later Marvel films is the need to make every story some world-threatening disaster only the heroes can solve. Goldstein and Daley may be tempted to throw in a small crew trying to stop an interstellar war, which is an easy option. But we’ve seen that tale before in Trek and it’s become old hat.
A more impactful tale would be trying just to stop a civil war on a planet, something that gives us danger and excitement, without crafting a super-villain to take on. There are also possibilities such as first contact with a new alien race, perhaps told from the aliens’ point of view. Or even a more political storyline about the inner workings of the Federation. Some enemy trying to wipe out the galaxy doesn’t have the same weight it once did.
The creators may want to make a big splash with some big new enemy to add to the Trek mythos. Yet, perhaps going for something smaller scale while keeping to the Trek spirit is the best move to make this film feel more special.
Honor the franchise, don’t deconstruct it
There’s been a temptation in many reboots to deconstruct a franchise. That was a huge complaint about Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi. With Trek, there have been a couple of deconstructions, such as the animated Lower Decks saga, and it would be a direction. It can show the Federation’s flaws and how Starfleet may not always be in the right. It’s tempting, but hopefully it’s a temptation Goldstein and Daley avoid.
The new film should remind fans of the good in Star Trek instead of more action and trying to be “realistic” in this space setting. There are plenty of other sci-fi franchises who go in that direction, Star Trek doesn’t need to follow that trend when its original themes still work much better.
There’s hope, though, as Honor Among Thieves had Goldstein and Daley expertly weaving a story in the Dungeons & Dragons world that made it accessible to newbies and loved by fans. If they can work that same magic for Star Trek, we’re in for a great time!
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