The Star Trek origin film behind ahead of Star Trek 4 is sad

Star Trek 4 is the meme that keeps on giving. In active development for what feels like a decade (though not far off), the fourth film has been in the pre-production stage for years, and it's not found any real traction to make people think it'll ever actually happen, despite the claims to the contrary.

So why bring it up today? Is it finally going into production? Nope, sadly this isn't so much about what's happening with the film, but what isn't happening, namely progress. The film is still something that Paramount wants to make, but as our own Rachel Carrington commented, the film is falling behind the Star Trek Origins film that was previously announced.

Variety revealed that the film is further ahead than Star Trek four, despite it being years ahead of it. The Origins films, which isn't the movie's official title, was just announced in January of 2024. Star Trek 4 was first announced in 2016, but for a variety of reasons, the film has yet to happen.

And honestly, it's sad. The current rumor for the Origins films is that the production will start in a matter of months, with a late 2024 start date for the movie. The fact that this brand new project, which will apparently pre-date Star Trek: Enterprise in the timeline, is further ahead than a film with eight years of work put in is so very sad.

Even if Star Trek 4 ends up happening, with the origins film serving as a main-timeline origin story, what's the point of Star Trek 4? Releasing Origins and Star Trek 4 only makes sense if they're in the same universe. That is, assuming Origins is a film going to the theaters. Origins may come out on Paramount+, and Star Trek 4 heads to the theaters, but that's just speculation.

Either way, to see that Star Trek 4 is still, at the very most, nine months behind this new Origins project is beyond sad.