For those wondering if another Star Trek movie is coming, one of its stars agrees it’s been way too long since it happened!
Star Trek has long found a good balance between big-screen epics and the various TV shows. For a time in the 1990s, it was easy to enjoy Deep Space Nine and Voyager while The Next Generation crew had their adventures until 2002's Nemesis.
It was 2009 when J.J. Abrams revived the franchise majorly with his Star Trek reboot. Abrams hit on the genius idea of an alternate timeline begun by Kirk’s father dying on the USS Kelvin (hence the whole thing named the “Kelvin Timeline” by fans). This led to a slightly different classic crew on new adventures.
The movie was a hit and was followed by Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond in 2016. However, it’s been nearly a decade since a new entry, with various stumbling blocks from the schedules of Abrams and the actors, to Paramount being more focused on Trek on TV.
However, in an interview with Collider, Zachary Quinto, who played Spock, expressed how he’s directly approached Abrams about a possible revival of the film series.
"I would absolutely love to do another Star Trek movie. I don’t understand why we haven’t done one yet, but hopefully now that the Skydance and Paramount merger is moving forward, Skydance was the financier of all the Star Trek movies that we’ve done so far and have been great partners in those films, and I would love to revisit it. I think all of us would. It’s been 10 years since we made the last movie, and nine years since it came out, and I do think that it would be a really wonderful way to close that chapter of the story and the characters that we’ve all come to love and come to enjoy inhabiting as much as we have. I think it would be really wonderful. I actually just emailed J.J. this week to say, 'Hey, this would be really exciting.' I think fans would be really open to it and really welcome a final movie. We’ve been talking about it for long enough that it seems like time to move it forward. So, I’m beating that drum as much as I can.”
Can Quinto’s words sway the chances of a fourth movie coming at last?
Can a fourth Star Trek Kelvin movie happen?
A fourth movie would have to have changes. That includes addressing the tragic passing of Anton Yelchin. The actor who played Chekov died in an accident just before Beyond was released. Perhaps enough time has passed to recast the role or the producers don’t use him.
For a story, it’s tricky to tell. Into Darkness already used Khan, and while there are characters that can be utilized (such as Sofia Boutella’s wonderful Jaylah), the question is if Abrams would use more classic Trek foes or a new threat.
Gathering the cast can also be a challenge with their various schedules. Quinto has the NBC medical drama Brilliant Minds, Karl Urban is in The Boys, Zoe Saldana stars in Lioness, and is in demand since her Oscar win, and Chris Pine is also busy with projects.
Quinto has hinted that the cast would gladly drop everything to take part in this, which is a good sign if the script can be ready.
“I think it would be really great to do a fourth movie, and let’s make it happen. There are so many possibilities in the stories we could tell. I think there’s something really wonderful about coming back to characters that we all have a history with, and we all have a real deep connection to, and a fond relationship with. I hope that we can, and I hope that we do. I’m still incredibly close with Chris, I stay in touch with the rest of the cast as well. I think all of us would welcome the chance to work together again. It was a really fun trilogy of movies, and to bring it back around one more time and get the old gang back together, I think, would be really incredible."
Many fans will agree with Quinto and the hopes that somehow the stars align for a new Star Trek film to get the Enterprise crew back on the big screen.
Star Trek movies streaming on Paramount+.