The last J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek film debuted in 2016 was when Chris Pine, one of the movie’s stars, was thirty-five-years old. The actor spoke recently at ACE Superhero Comic Con 2024 [via Screenrant], and it seems he’s curious about playing an older version of Captain Kirk now that he’s forty-three. For the first three movies, his character was the “younger” Kirk, the one still breaking the rules. Now that he has gotten a little older, it’s natural to wonder if he’s going to be able to play Kirk in that same manner, or if Star Trek 4 will take his age into consideration.
Whereas William Shatner was thirty-five when Star Trek: The Original Series aired, and his Captain Kirk was already commanding the USS Enterprise, Paul Wesley is portraying a younger version of Kirk as a lieutenant on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and he is soon to be forty-two. So clearly, the focus isn’t on the age of the actor but the actor’s ability to play the part, whether young or old.
"In terms of the next phase of [Star Trek], obviously you’re all fans, so I’m sure you’ve read it… We all like one another a lot. I’m good friends with everybody I’ve worked with. We have a great time doing it. I’m a lot older now, so I would be curious where that next story lands us in terms of what it would be and what we’ve said in the press."Chris Pine
Of course, Star Trek 4 could take several more years to actually come to fruition…if at all. So this might be a moot point. Though it’s still considered “in production,” some fans have taken a “we’ll believe it when we see it” type of stance while others have already written the movie off. Hopefully, though, the studio will still surprise us, and we’ll get Star Trek 4.