The upcoming slate of Star Trek properties seems to focus more on the world of films than anything else. This isn't surprising, as making a film can be more cost-effective than making a television series, especially when you consider how much more money it takes to make television series these days. At least series for streaming.
You could probably make a 90 to 110-minute film for half of what a Star Trek show costs on Paramount+. While you may not have as sustainable of a revenue stream, you'll also spend less money, which is part of the issue with streaming as a whole. No one is making money. Everything is too expensive and viewership has been further split and diluted even further.
With cash being tight at the moment, making a film seems to make the most sense financially, at least as opposed to greenlighting five new shows for Star Trek. So it's not surprising at all that there is a Star Trek prequel movie in the works. The question though about this series revolves around the unknown aspect of which universe it's supposed to take place in.
When we first heard about it, we were under the impression that it was in the Kelvin Timeline, then we heard that it may be in the main timeline, or to simplify it, the Chris Pine Kirk Timeline or the William Shatner Kirk Timeline.
It seemed like some people were getting their signals crossed, leading many to keep reporting the opposite of one another, and the truth is we really still don't know when or where the film is going to be set. Yet, The Wrap may have given us some more clues about its future.
According to The Wrap, the film is in fact set in the Kelvin Timeline, and they note that before Star Trek was given to J.J. Abrams in 2009, there was a film in place to be made called Star Trek: The Beginning, written by Erik Jendresen, who co-wrote Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.
The film is being set decades before Kirk, and if that's the case, then maybe we can get the Federation Romulan War that UPN deprived us of in 2005.