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Paramount announces new Star Trek film starring Chris Pine and crew, set for 2023 release

The ‘Kelvin Timeline’ gang is getting back together.

New Star Trek film would reunite Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana

The fourth installment of Star Trek’ s Kelvin Timeline may actually be happening. On Tuesday, Paramount executive Brian Robbins and producer J.J. Abrams made the announcement during Paramount’s investor’s event. The project would bring the crew of Abrams’ rebooted film franchise back together for the first time since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond .

While no contracts are in place, according to Hollywood Reporter , Paramount plans to reunite castmembers Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg , Karl Urban , Zoe Saldaña , and John Cho — who have appeared in all three of the latest Star Trek films, beginning in 2009.

The project is one that has been both turbulent and long-rumored with previous false starts that have involved actors Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth , along with Quentin Tarantino , S.J. Clarkson , Matt Shakman , and Noah Hawley . However, the official announcement may signal some breakthrough in negotiations that will finally allow the big screen USS Enterprise crew to fly once again.

If all goes according to plan, production on the new film would begin in late 2022 and will be due in theaters on December 22, 2023 .

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest information related to Star Trek’s return to the big screen, along with news on Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Lower Decks .

You can follow us on Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram .

Founded TrekNews.net in 2011. UX, visual designer, and published photographer based in the Boston area. Connoisseur of Star Trek, sci-fi, '80s horror, synthwave sounds, and tacos. You can follow Brian on Twitter @brianwilkins .

February 16, 2022 at 10:40 am

I couldn’t be more excited. I was really hoping they were not finished with the Kelvin timeline.

February 16, 2022 at 2:18 pm

I’m curious as to who will be cast as Chekov or how his role will be filled. Very much looking forward to this.

Lord lee wood

February 17, 2022 at 7:53 am

I’d love to star in it

Rebecca Alonso

March 17, 2022 at 6:55 pm

I ‘m really not looking forward to it. I do love the actors though, they are really good in their roles, especially Karl Urban as Bones.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one pl... Read all The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time. The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

• J.J. Abrams
• Roberto Orci
• Alex Kurtzman
• Gene Roddenberry
• Zachary Quinto
• 1.6K User reviews
• 532 Critic reviews
• 82 Metascore
• 27 wins & 95 nominations total

• Spock Prime

• (as Zoë Saldana)

• Amanda Grayson

• George Kirk

• Winona Kirk

• Captain Robau

• Officer Pitts
• (as Antonio Elias)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Simon Pegg did not audition for the role - he simply received an email from J.J. Abrams asking if he would like to play Scotty. Pegg said he would have done this for free, or even paid Abrams to be in this film, if he had not been offered a role.
• Goofs After Spock boards the Vulcan ship on board the mining vessel, Kirk is seen walking through some pipes. His Starfleet phaser has switched to a Romulan gun (longer barrel and no lights), before switching back to the Starfleet one again in the next scene. He actually acquires the Romulan gun a few scenes later.

Spock Prime : James T. Kirk!

James T. Kirk : Excuse me?

Spock Prime : How did you find me?

James T. Kirk : Whoa... how do you know my name?

Spock Prime : I have been and always shall be your friend.

James T. Kirk : Wha...

[shakes head]

James T. Kirk : Uh... look... I-I don't know you.

Spock Prime : I am Spock.

James T. Kirk : Bullshit.

• Crazy credits The first part of the closing credits is styled after the opening credits of Star Trek (1966) , where the starship Enterprise blasts off into space as a monologue describes its mission, and then the cast names appear as the famous "Star Trek" theme music plays.
• Connections Edited into De wereld draait door: Episode #4.157 (2009)
• Soundtracks Theme from 'Star Trek' TV Series Written by Alexander Courage & Gene Roddenberry

User reviews 1.6K

• Apr 17, 2009
• If this premise is that an alternate timeline created when Nero traveled back in time, then what happened to James Kirk's older brother, Sam, aka George Samuel Kirk Jr.?
• How can Spock's mother still be alive years later (original series) when she dies earlier on in this movie ?
• What is Star Trek about?
• May 8, 2009 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Star Trek: The Future Begins
• Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California, USA (Vulcan)
• Paramount Pictures
• Spyglass Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $150,000,000 (estimated)
• $257,730,019
• $75,204,289
• May 10, 2009
• $385,681,768

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 7 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos
• 2.35 : 1 (original ratio)
• 2.39 : 1 (original ratio)

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Star Trek 4 potential release date, cast and everything you need to know

A new writer has boarded the USS Enterprise.

Star Trek 4 potential release date: When can we expect Star Trek 4?

Star trek 4 cast: who's going to be in star trek 4, star trek 4 plot: what's going to happen in star trek 4, star trek 4 trailer: any star trek 4 footage yet.

Star Trek 4 still isn't close to being released, but we do at least know that development continues on the long-awaited movie .

In March 2024, it was reported that Steve Yockey – who developed The Flight Attendant – had become the latest writer to tackle a new draft for the movie, which is intended to bring back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldaña.

This is separate from the other two Star Trek movies in the works: a prequel movie directed by Toby Haynes and Star Trek: Discovery spin-off Section 31 , which finished filming in March 2024.

We'll likely see both of those movies before we see Star Trek 4 , but at least it should be released one day. But while we wait, here's everything you need to know about the (potential) return of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek 4 .

Is Star Trek 4 confirmed?

As far as we know, Star Trek 4 is definitely going to happen despite the fact we're nearing eight years since the last movie, Star Trek Beyond , was released.

The long-gestating movie finally looked to be on track in February 2022 when it was announced that JJ Abrams was returning to produce with Matt Shakman directing, to the surprise of the cast as much as the fans.

Unfortunately, Shakman left the movie in August 2022 to direct Fantastic Four for Marvel instead . And then in September 2022, Paramount took the movie off the release calendar entirely.

In March 2023, JJ Abrams – who has produced all three movies in the reboot trilogy and directed two of them – said that a search for a director is ongoing.

"I will say it's the first time [since the original reboot] that we have a story that feels as compelling as the first one," he told Esquire . Of course, Pine also called the franchise "cursed" so it depends how hopeful you feel like being.

We've heard nothing since about a potential director for the movie, but at least we know is that Star Trek 4 is in active development at Paramount, given that there is now a new writer on board.

Once upon a time, Star Trek 4 was scheduled to be released in cinemas on December 22, 2023.

Of course, that never happened, and Star Trek 4 hasn't got a confirmed release date as of May 2024. There's no rumours either about when it could reappear on the schedule.

In June 2022, prior to Shakman leaving the project, Paramount boss Brian Robbins did confirm development was under way on the fourth Star Trek . "We're deep into it with JJ Abrams, and it feels like we're getting close to the starting line and excited about where we're going creatively," he said .

However, in November 2022, star Zachary Quinto told The Independent : "At this point, I honestly have very little attachment to it.

"All of us would like to come back and make another movie, but I’ve learnt to only get excited about things I know are actually real. And there's nothing about a fourth Star Trek movie that feels real right now."

Other people involved seem to have faith in the project moving forward, though, and hopefully a new writer joining is a positive step.

All we can do is watch this space.

Even when Star Trek 4 was originally being released in December 2023, it hadn't been 100% confirmed that the reboot cast would be back.

That being said, during his June 2022 announcement, Robbins did say he knew audience "wants that cast in this movie" – referring to the reboot cast.

So, if it ever does come to fruition, we'd be surprised if it was with a brand-new cast. You can likely then expect the returns of Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Zoe Saldaña (Uhura), Karl Urban (Bones), John Cho (Sulu) and Simon Pegg (Scotty).

Urban certainly seems keen for a return, although he also revealed in March 2022 that, like Pine, he hadn't read a script yet . "I would love to work with those guys again; so much fun, the best hang. We'll see," he enthused.

It all feels very up in the air, as per Quinto's quotes, but that doesn't mean we can't hope.

The initial plan for the fourth movie was to have a timey-wimey adventure that featured Chris Pine's James T Kirk somehow joining forces with his long-dead dad, played by Chris Hemsworth .

Hemsworth opened up in May 2019 about why he stepped away from the movie , saying: "I didn't feel like we landed on a reason to revisit that yet. I didn't want to be underwhelmed by what I was going to bring to the table."

It's unclear if this new version of Star Trek 4 plans to bring Hemsworth back or if it's gone in a totally new direction, but Hemsworth seems open to a return for the fourth movie.

In October 2022, Rings of Power bosses JD Payne and Patrick McKay teased more about what their original idea for the fourth movie was going to be. "The conceit was that through a cosmic quirk in the Star Trek world, they were the same age," McKay explained.

We also don't know yet whether the new movie will recast Pavel Chekov following Anton Yelchin's tragic death in 2016. "It's bittersweet because we are coming together for a fourth time, and one of us is no longer with us," Saldaña said in March 2022 .

"But we honestly feel that going back and keeping the Star Trek family together is a way to really keep him alive in our thoughts and our hearts."

Right now, we don't have any confirmed plot details for the fourth movie, and it's not clear how closely it'll follow on from the ending of Star Trek Beyond .

The third movie ended with Kirk declining the promotion to vice admiral and staying as the captain of the USS Enterprise. Spock also chose to remain in Starfleet and reignited his romance with Uhura.

As the movie ends, they're all set to continue their mission on a brand-new USS Enterprise after the previous one was destroyed during the movie's events.

It means that the fourth movie can go anywhere. But, for Pine, he believes that whatever the plot is, it shouldn't try to compete with Marvel .

"I've always thought that Star Trek should operate in the zone that is smaller. You know, it's not a Marvel appeal. It's like, let's make the movie for the people that love this group of people, that love this story, that love Star Trek ," he said.

"Let's make it for them and then, if people want to come to the party, great. But make it for a price and make it, so that if it makes a half-billion dollars, that's really good."

You're kidding, right? We'd love to get all timey-wimey ourselves and show you a trailer for Star Trek 4 from the future, but we're stuck in the Mirror Universe.

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Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies , attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy , initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.  

Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance journalist and film critic, and was previously Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. She loves Star Wars , coming-of-age stories, thrillers , and true crime. A born and raised New Yorker, she also loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.

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Star Trek 2009 Ending & Movies Future Explained

8 movies we thought were going to be hits but flopped at the box office, brad pitt's reported $300 million movie can still be a box office hit (& top gun: maverick proves it).

• Chris Pine stars as Captain James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot movies, which revitalized the franchise after previous films failed to perform.
• The success of Abrams' Star Trek trilogy showed that iconic roles like Kirk and Spock could be successfully recast, inspiring new Star Trek series.
• Chris Pine's Star Trek movies can be streamed on Paramount+ and other services, and they are also available for rent on various platforms.

Chris Pine stars as Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek reboot movies produced by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions, also known as the Kelvin Timeline movies. Abrams reinvigorated the Star Trek brand with his 2009 film about characters from Star Trek: The Original Series, after the fourth Star Trek: The Next Generation movie, Star Trek: Nemesis , failed to perform at the box office amidst dismal reviews from critics and fans alike.

In addition to Chris Pine's Kirk, Abrams' Star Trek movies cast Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock, Zoe Saldaña as Lt. Nyota Uhura, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, John Cho as Hikaru Sulu, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov, and Leonard Nimoy as Ambassador Spock. The success of Abrams' Star Trek trilogy proved that the franchise could successfully recast iconic roles like Kirk and Spock, and Abrams' films inspired the cinema-quality visuals of Star Trek: Discovery and the new wave of Star Trek series on Paramount+ from 2017 into the present day.

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2009 saw the young Kirk and Spock join forces to save Earth. A deep dive into how Star Trek 2009 ended and what it all means.

How Many Chris Pine Star Trek Movies Are There?

There are three Star Trek movies starring Chris Pine. Star Trek (2009) is an introduction to the new cinematic series, as Pine's James Kirk and Zachary Quinto's Mr. Spock come together to save the day despite their fiercely clashing philosophies, with Leonard Nimoy's Ambassador Spock passing the proverbial torch to his younger self. Star Trek: Into Darkness sees Starfleet take extraordinary means to increase its defenses in the wake of the previous film's conflicts, with Benedict Cumberbatch as the villainous Khan Noonien Singh . In Star Trek: Beyond (2016), the Enterprise crew faces off against brand-new enemy Krall (Idris Elba), with help from newcomer Jaylah (Sofia Boutella).

Where To Watch Chris Pine’s Star Trek Movies

Chris Pine's Star Trek movies can be watched on limited streaming services and are also available to rent online. In North America, Great Britain, Europe, and Australia, all three Chris Pine Star Trek movies are available to stream for subscribers on Paramount+, and services that have a Paramount+ channel, like Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, Roku (US) and Binge (Australia). In the United States, Star Trek (2009) is also on Hulu, and Star Trek: Into Darkness is also on DIRECTV. Star Trek movies starring Chris Pine are available to rent on Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, Amazon Prime, and Microsoft Movies, as well as region-specific video rental services like Sky and Rakuten in the UK and Cineplex Store in Canada.

Kelvin Timeline In Chris Pine's Star Trek Movies Explained

The timeline that Chris Pine's Star Trek movies take place in is known as the Kelvin Timeline, to differentiate it from the Prime Timeline that the Star Trek TV shows and all the films prior to 2009's reboot take place in. The Kelvin Timeline so named because of its inflection point, in which the USS Kelvin is destroyed by the time-traveling Romulan ship Narada. James Kirk's father, George (Chris Hemsworth), goes down with the Kelvin, so Chris Pine's Kirk never knows his father, and grows up to be a very different character from the James Kirk played by William Shatner in Star Trek: The Original Series.

In previous time travel stories in Star Trek , alternate realities are created when a point of divergence creates a new, branching timeline, but the Kelvin Timeline doesn't work that way. Instead, the Narada's appearance 150 years in the past creates a ripple effect that reverberates throughout the Kelvin Timeline, causing changes to both its past and its future. This means even events prior to the inflection point may be different from those in Star Trek: The Original Series, allowing for narrative changes such as Chris Pine's Kirk being born in space instead of Iowa, and an in-universe explanation of the updated production design not matching the 1960s aesthetic from TOS.

Will There Be Star Trek 4 Starring Chris Pine?

There's certainly interest in seeing Chris Pine's Captain Kirk back on the silver screen, but creative differences and scheduling conflicts have prevented Star Trek 4 from being realized. Between 2016 and 2020, three different scripts were written. Quentin Tarantino's gangster-inspired Star Trek film was a tonal departure that never took off. The father-son story between Pine's James Kirk and Chris Hemsworth's George Kirk was slashed after Star Trek: Beyond 's disappointing box office figures. Noah Hawley's third version of Star Trek 4 left the Kelvin Timeline behind , projecting a new direction for the franchise, but was also shelved in 2020.

The success of new Star Trek TV series like Star Trek: Discovery reinvigorated audience interest as well as Paramount's faith in Star Trek . A new version of Star Trek 4 was announced at a Paramount investor event in February 2022, with several actors set to return, including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldaña. With a release date set for June (later December) 2023, it looked like Star Trek 4 might finally be made, but director Matt Shakman's departure from the project in spring 2022 left Star Trek 4 adrift. As of October 2023, plans for a fourth Star Trek movie with Chris Pine remain nebulous at best, but there's still hope as the studio continues its search for a director.

• Star Trek (2009)

Chris Pine Reveals How The Star Trek 4 Cast Reacted To The Movie's Announcement

Taking a leaf out of Disney's playbook, Paramount used its investor day on February 15, 2022, to announce a whole slew of  films and series coming exclusively to Paramount+, along with a handful of movies intended for theatrical release. However, its gambit didn't work and even caused the company's stock to drop over worries about the logistics of its plans to, in essence, spend its way into profitability. Adding to the awkwardness, Paramount had J.J. Abrams reveal the long-awaited fourth "Star Trek" film set in the Kelvin Timeline is once again moving forward, with "the original cast" set to return — an announcement that came as surprising news to many, not least of all the cast themselves .

Chris Pine, who played James T. Kirk in the Abrams-directed 2009 "Star Trek" movie reboot and its sequels, discussed the incident in an interview with Variety . "I think everybody was like, 'Did you hear about this?' [Laughs]," he said when asked how he and his co-stars reacted. "We're usually the last people to find out, but I do know we're all excited. Whenever they want to send us a script, we're ready for it."

'I don't trust anybody, but I'm excited'

As the Trekkies of the world are no doubt aware, Paramount initially set out to work on a fourth movie set in the Kelvin timeline shortly before the third film, "Star Trek Beyond," hit theaters in 2016. The original plan was to bring back Chis Hemsworth as James Kirk's father, George Kirk, who had perished in the prologue to Abrams' "Star Trek." Progress slowed after "Beyond" underperformed at the box office, but the movie showed new signs of life when S.J. Clarkson ("Jessica Jones") signed on to direct in 2018. In the end, though, that iteration of "Star Trek 4" fell apart after Pine and Hemsworth ended their talks, with the "Thor" actor later claiming it had less to do with salary (as was reported at the time) and more to do with him being unhappy with the script .

After considering ideas for different "Star Trek" movies from Quentin Tarantino and Noah Hawley , Paramount got the ball rolling on a new iteration of "Star Trek 4." The film has "WandaVision" alum Matt Shakman directing a script by Josh Friedman ("Terminator: Dark Fate") and Cameron Squires ("WandaVision"), based on an earlier draft by Lindsey Beer ("The Magic Order") and Geneva Robertson-Dworet ("Captain Marvel"). Pine, for his part, told Variety he has yet to see the script for himself, adding that he's wary but hopeful the movie will come together this time:

"I don't trust anybody, but I'm excited. I love the story. I love 'Star Trek.' I love my people."

"Star Trek 4" (official title TBA) is scheduled to reach theaters on December 22, 2023.

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Chris pine on spy thriller ‘all the old knives’: “the heart of it is this love story”.

The actor debuted his new Amazon film alongside co-star Thandiwe Newton at a Los Angeles special screening on Wednesday, where he also spoke briefly about 'Star Trek 4' plans.

By Sydney Odman

Sydney Odman

Assistant to the Editorial Director

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According to star and executive producer Chris Pine , All the Old Knives is more than just another spy-thriller. 

“Certainly it’s about a spy, but it’s really more about a man who’s madly in love with a woman who gets wrapped up in a shitty situation,” Pine said about the film. “Really, for me, the heart of it is this love story.”

On Wednesday evening, the cast and crew of Amazon Studios ’ All the Old Knives gathered at The London West Hollywood hotel for a special screening of the film, followed by an afterparty. Pine and fellow star Thandiwe Newton took to the red carpet, along with director Janus Metz Pedersen and a guest list including Keegan-Michael Key, Vikings: Valhalla star Sam Corlett and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actor Gavin Leatherwood. 

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The film is based on a novel of the same name by Olen Steinhauer, who also penned the screenplay in a team effort with the director and cast. 

“We did a lot of work on the script in all the prep. We did a lot of polishing and rewriting, and I did a lot of readings with Chris and Thandiwe, in order to strengthen what was already there — a really good script that brought us all together,” Metz told THR . “Olen was part of that, too. We had a great collaboration.”

The film follows Henry [played by Pine] and Celia [Newton] as ex-lovers and spies who meet over dinner to reminisce about their time together. As the night goes on, both seek to get to the bottom of a disastrous hijacking years prior that continues to haunt the CIA.

“I read the script years ago and it took forever to get made and we were looking for a director for a long time,” Pine said of the film’s development. “[Janus] comes from a documentary, observer background and because this film is so much about nuance and particularities and moments, he was just the perfect guy to do it.”

The supporting casted is filled out by Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Pryce, both of whom the director was quick to rave about, saying with Fishburne, “I t’s a deep resonance to have him in anything” and after seeing Pryce in The Two Popes , “ that, to me, was one of the best performances I’ve seen, maybe ever. I thought it was just tremendous. So ever since I saw that, I’ve just dreamed of working with him.”

And as for the film’s twists and turns, Newton promises, “ This one’s really bloody good, man. I read this script, and I was like, holy, I did not see that coming. I’m pretty good at predicting things, and I really did not see that coming.”

Next for Barry Linen Motion Pictures — Pine’s production banner alongside producing partner Ian Gotler — comes Poolman , in which Pine will star, write and direct. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will produce, along with Django Unchained producer Stacey Sher. Not to mention, J.J. Abrams also recently announced that a fourth Star Trek film is in the works, in which Pine previously starred as leading man Captain James T. Kirk. 

“I have no dates on Star Trek , I have no script, so I don’t really know,” Pine said of the announcement. “I’d love to get back to work but I just have no idea.”

At the moment, Poolman is at the top of Pine’s priorities list. “Abso-fucking-lutely,” he said, when asked if he’s looking forward to the upcoming project, which aims for a June 2022 production start. 

All the Old Knives will premiere on Prime Video on April 8. 

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'Star Trek' '4' in Development with 'Original Cast,' Says J.J. Abrams: 'We're Thrilled'

J.J. Abrams says the fourth Star Trek film "will be shooting by the end of the year" and "will be featuring our original cast and some new characters"

Will Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Zoe Saldana and the rest of the Star Trek cast be beaming back up to the USS Enterprise soon?

According to J.J. Abrams , who directed the 2009 reboot and its 2013 sequel, the "original cast" will be back for a fourth movie "that will be shooting by the end of the year," he said Tuesday at the Paramount Investors Day presentation, per Entertainment Weekly .

The team is "hard at work" on the movie that will include both the "original cast and some new characters that I think are going to be really fun and exciting and help take Star Trek into areas that you've just never seen before," said Abrams, 55.

"We're thrilled about this film," he added. "We have a bunch of other stories that we're talking about that we think will be really exciting, so can't wait for you to see what we're cooking up."

Abrams concluded with one of the famous lines from the series: "Until then, live long and prosper."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Star Trek 4 will be directed by WandaVision 's Matt Shakman, after the first two movies were helmed by Abrams and the third, Star Trek Beyond , was directed by Justin Lin .

EW reports that the studio has not yet entered negotiations with Pine, 41, Quinto, 44, Saldana, 43, or many of the other original cast members, including John Cho , Simon Pegg and Karl Urban. ( Anton Yelchin , who appeared as Chekhov in the first three movies, died in 2016 .)

According to EW , an early draft of the script for Star Trek 4 was penned by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, known for their work on Sierra Burgess Is a Loser and Captain Marvel , respectively.

The screenplay, by Avatar 2 's Josh Friedman and WandaVision 's Cameron Squires, will be based on Beer and Robertson-Dworet's.

RELATED VIDEO: Beyond Dedicated! Trekkie Spends $100,000 Recreating Original Star Trek Sets for "Fan Films"

Fargo series creator Noah Hawley was previously announced as director for the fourth installment in the revamped franchise, in November 2019.

According to The Hollywood Reporter , Pine, Quinto and Saldana were expected to return to their roles of Jim Kirk, Spock and Nyota Uhura, respectively. (Reps for the three actors did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment at the time.)

Quentin Tarantino previously expressed interested in writing and directing his own take on Star Trek — he previously pitched his Star Trek idea to Paramount — although his friend and Star Trek scribe Pegg, 52, joked that Tarantino's version wouldn't be " Pulp Fiction in space" in a 2018 interview.

In December 2019, Tarantino, 58, said he had "taken the pressure off" himself to make a Star Trek project his 10th and final film, noting to Consequence and Sound , "I think I'm steering away from [it] ."

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Chris Pine Talks “Big F-ing Deal” Landing Kirk Role; Surprised ‘Star Trek 4’ Has Another New Screenwriter

| May 8, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 135 comments so far

Today is the 15th anniversary of the official release date of the 2009 Star Trek movie, where Chris Pine debuted in the role of James T. Kirk. The actor is reflecting on being cast in that role and expressing his latest frustration on the development of the fourth movie set in the Kelvin Universe.

Pine reflects on Star Trek

Chris Pine is out promoting his directorial debut film Poolman , and he is of course also taking questions about his career including playing James T. Kirk in three movies. Today Entertainment Weekly posted a video of the actor discussing several of his projects including the 2009 Star Trek movie. In the video he talks about how he didn’t get called after his first audition for months and assumed he didn’t get the role, describing his callback audition with producer/director J.J. Abrams:

“I remember going in and J.J. was really fun. And it’s ridiculous. You’re standing acting in an office in Hollywood and you’re talking about phasers and thrusters and the battleships going down and Klingons are coming after you. It’s acting with a capital A. J.J. is very giggly. So, he’s very like reactive. He’s what an actor loves. We perform for people, so he’s giving you a lot. So I went out and he said “Spock’s here,” and I knew Zachary [Quinto] was playing Spock and I knew Zach because we worked out at the same gym with the same trainer. Very Hollywood, same nutritionist and acupuncturist. Auditioning is very – I found it very fun. It’s very disheartening. You kind of work your way up and you are doing TV and it was much more the case back then than it is now, but to be in a film was a big f-ing deal.”

You can watch him talk Trek and more below…

Wonders why Star Trek 4 has another scriptwriter

After Pine talked about Star Trek (including how proud he was to have Chris Hemsworth play his father) he was prompted by EW to react to the latest reports on a fourth Kelvin movie and he said:

“You may have more information than I do. So, I don’t know. I just read the trades that someone got hired to write a new script. I was under the impression that there was already a script, but I have no idea. I’d love to do it and if they want to do it, fantastic.”

Pine is referring to the March reports in the Hollywood trades that Paramount and J.J. Abrams have brought in another screenwriter for Star Trek 4 , tasking Steve Yockey to draft yet another script. Pine got even more curious about the situation when talking to Business Insider , posing the question “Why?” when asked about the latest news, adding:

“I thought there was already a script, but I guess I was wrong, or they decided to pivot. As it’s always been with ‘Trek,’ I just wait and see.”

Even though the Star Trek 4 project (in various forms) has been in development since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond , Paramount has decided to move another Trek feature film ahead of it. Last month at Cinemacon Paramount Pictures officially put their “ Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie ” on their 2025/2026 schedule. The film is expected to have a new cast. Toby Haynes ( Andor , Black Mirror “USS Callister”) has already been hired as director for a script from Seth Grahame-Smith ( The Lego Batman Movie ), with J.J. Abrams also as producer. The Star Trek 4 project reuniting the Kelvin cast is in parallel development, but Paramount has yet to set a new target date.

Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek Beyond

Looking back at ST09

Paramount was feeling nostalgic today, releasing a video looking back at the Star Trek movie released May 8, 2009.

Pine back in theaters this weekend

Chris Pine’s Poolman opens May 10. Here is the trailer…

Find more news and analysis on  upcoming Star Trek feature films .

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Box Office Mojo still has only one pending Trek movie, no release date, and labeled Untitled Star Trek: Beyond Sequel.

So there’s that. Along with the cone of silence.

What’s amazing is we got 3 movies in 7 years and I remember fans thought it took way too long between films.

Now we have 0 movies in 8 years and no end in sight when that will change. If Beyond didn’t crap the bed as it did they may have been on their 5th or 6th movie by now.

Ya and truth be told I think Kelvin has run it’s course as you know. It was great in it’s day to revitalize the franchise after TNG era fatigue but we are way past that now.

Certainly. But I always said why I don’t care they make another one I would give it a chance if for no other reason it would be fun to see one in a movie theater again.

But these movies have run out of gas long ago. Before they were seen as the future of the entire franchise. Today they are treated like an after thought by both the fans and even the studio. What’s even the point anymore? Just move on already as they say they are actually doing. But they still keep pushing the idea they will do one more to squeeze out one last dollar I guess.

I’d still really like to see one more Kelvin film with Pine, Quinto, Urban and the rest. I really enjoyed the 3 Abrams films (despite obvious continuity issues). I loved how it married ST with SW action and I thought the casting, for the most part, was absolutely great.

Beyond was the best of the 3 and certainly did not “crap the bed” as you so eloquently put it. The problem started with Into Darkness. People were stoked when Trek 2009 came out that they flocked to theatres to see Into Darkness, only to leave disappointed with the poor remake of TWOK, and it left a bad taste in people’s mouths. When Beyond came out, fewer people went to see it because of that. I found beyond to be the most like Star Trek that we knew and loved. The actors fit into their roles very well. It was a fun movie and deserved better than being crapped on. Into Darkness finds itself in the company with TFF and Nemesis as the worst of the Trek movies.

Bro Beyond is my favorite of the three and the only one I actually liked.😉

So obviously I’m not talking about the merits of the movie itself. But end of the day it had the worst BO. I thought Star Trek Into Dumbness was really bad and another reason why people didn’t care about Beyond but you can’t blame Beyond bad BO solely on that movie either. I actually blame it mostly on the poor marketing (and that first teaser trailer….yuck) and that a lot of new fans had no interest in it like the first two because it came off too Trek-y. The first two movies, as bad as I thought they were, were probably more pleasing for new fans because they felt closer to Star Wars than the last movie did. Sad but true.

But Beyond was the movie that had the worst performance out of the three. If it at least broke even like The Final Frontier did we probably would’ve had another movie years by now.

At the end of the day Beyond just didn’t excite/interest average moviegoers the way ST09/ID did

Even though I liked the movie I didn’t bother to even watch it until the second week it came out. By then I was just put off by these movies but reading fan reviews sounded like it felt more like an actual TOS story and less Star Wars so I went and was pleasantly surprised.

But I still remember sitting in that theater on a Saturday night in IMAX and there was maybe 50 or so other people there with me. I knew then this movie was going to be a turkey lol. It was a stark difference from the first two movies where the theater was packed for several weeks and it was the exact same theater I watched all three movies in.

I just think most people stopped caring. There was no real hook for it, it did look more bland than the first two and it probably didn’t help it was the same premise the third time in a row about another villain who wanted vengeance against the Federation. 🙄

And did I mention that first horrible trailer?

Like I said, I liked it but it wasn’t a movie that was a must see in the theaters either unless you were a super fan basically. For everyone else it probably came off like a generic Star Trek movie.

I never watched any of these movies in the theater. They just looked too much like Star Wars with a lot of hyperkinetic action and over the top villains.

They probably did seem fun for younger people which I guess was the point but as you said no real substance.

Beyond was definitely better but I still didn’t see it as very good, just passable. It did try to feel like a Star Trek story. It was even about exploration. Who knew that was possible?

Oh yeah I never been a big fan of these movies either. I was never excited about doing a TOS prequel/reboot in the first place but was certainly curious how they would do them.

But when I realized it was just basically an over slick action movie with plot holes the size of the black hole the Narada came out of I just lost all interest.

And I’m not a film snob fat from it lol. But there are enough fast food slick action movies every year. And Star Trek is an action franchise but that’s not why most people watch Star Trek. They actually watch it because they want to be awed by it. To have something meaningful to say. It doesn’t mean every episode but every once in awhile.

But it was obvious these movies were trying to grab the Marvel and Fast and furious audience, not the science fiction audience. They tried to slant it that way with the parallel universe stuff but that’s how you actually knew these movies didn’t care about that or was afraid it would scare off the intended audience because they didn’t explore it any real way.

They literally gave it a few lines of dialogue and then it was back to more running around and catchy one liners. If this was an episode that would’ve been the main focus of the story and not just the crazy Romulan blowing up planets because he’s super angry. 🙄

But once even that wasn’t enough for the newbies they bounced because you can just watch those other franchises if that’s all you want. It’s exactly why Marvel, Transformers, Star Wars and Fast and Furious movies have all made a billion dollars and why Star Trek will never get close to that.

As hard as they tried for most people it will still just be that nerdy show with a lot of boring science, technobabble and serious characters no matter how hard you try to turn it into something else.

It can be popular but it’s never going to be for the masses either and probably why there has been no new movies for so long because they finally realize that reality.

Yes all of this!

The Star Trek movies has always leaned to more popcorn fare after TMP (still one of my favorite movies) got a very mixed reaction by fans.

The movies has always catered to non fans as much as fans which is fine, but you can still make them feel like Star Trek movies. TWOK still did it the best. It’s not perfect either and there are a lot of potholes in that movie too. But most fans adore it because it had something to say as you said.

These new movies pretend to be more than action fluff but that’s all it is. Khan in STID has no nuance like the original Khan. He’s just super angry. They spend all of three minutes telling us who he is but leave out all the parts of what makes the character bigger than life. Here he’s just some augment who hated regular humans or something. No debate, no philosophy, no insight to his thought process like we got with the original Khan. Just another villain to topple. Admiral Marcus was much more interesting IMO.

Nero and Krall were just as bad. They monologue for a few minutes but it’s all just an excuse to blow things up. It’s no different than most Bond villains. Why was Nero blowing stuff up when he should’ve been warning Romulus of a super nova that was going to happen in a hundred years instead of putting a target on that planets back when the Federation eventually come looking for payback?

Who cares just eat your popcorn. No one needs to think through anything when the fight scenes and action pieces are so awesome.

I still remembered what I did the night I came home after watching the movie. I was so bitterly disappointed what I saw I put on some of my TNG DVDs and I watched episodes that entire night and throughout that weekend.

I had not watched any Star Trek in probably over a year at that time. But watching them just reminded me of much I truly loved and missed this franchise. The movie oddly sparked my love for it again, just not in the way I intended it though lol.

I have never watched that movie again since my second viewing of it 15 years ago now. Just no desire.

I don’t think Into Darkness killed anything. Yes, a lot of ST fans were annoyed with the is he or isn’t he Khan gimmick. Abrams has essentially said that that was probably not a good call. But the general public doesn’t care about continuity and Darkness is a great, fun, action movie on its own merits.

Beyond was great! It got great critical and audience reviews. Problem was, as with a lot of films these days, it didn’t draw the audience numbers that Paramount wanted and needed to make up for its cost.

It’s a shame. Star Wars: The Force Awakened came out the same year and my wife and I thought Beyond was actually better. But Star Wars will, of course, always draw more than Star Trek at the box office. Also, as Simon Pegg said, I don’t think the marketing for Star Trek Beyond was good enough either.

Even my own daughter didn’t bother to see Beyond in the theater and she liked the first two movies. She just thought it looked too boring and was surprised it was about another villain who wanted to take down the Federation.

And I think after The Force Awakens people who were never big Star Trek fans were pulled away by that movie and Beyond didn’t draw them back in. Of course even SW is now in fandom jail since those fans are even more angry where those movies went. Thanks JJ for making a mess of both franchises.

I thought the Force Awakens was very good, thought its plot intentionally struck almost the same beats as A New Hope.

The Last Jedi was my favorite as it did things that were unexpected. The one thing I would’ve changed is Luke dying at the end. With the loss of Carrie Fisher, they should have had Hamill as one of the major players of the final film. They should’ve had Luke raise his X-wing out of the ocean and taking of in it to join the rest of the “Resistance.” By killing him/merging him with the force, they resorted to using a CGI Princess Leia. I just think that was a mistake.

The last film, the Rise of Skywalker, was a screw up. JJ didn’t stick the landing for this last trilogy. At least the prequel trilogy did that with Revenge of the Sith. Rise had so many problems, including the necessity of using a CGI Princess Leia which limited what they could do with the character, the crazy reappearance of the Emperor and the offhand explanation of what Snoke was, Rey’s lame parentage (she’s not a Skywalker at all, she’s, of course, the Emperor’s grand-daughter). I also didn’t understand that the original trio of characters all had to go. Yes, Solo’s death was a great dramatic device and it worked really well. Luke should not have gone. And Leia’s death, didn’t work, but I guess it made sense since Fisher had passed. Maybe they shouldn’t have used her at all and referenced her death offscreen? Only Lando is left to celebrate at the end (and Chewie of course) and it just feels really sad, not joyful at all, that none of the SW Trinity are there at the end. I just don’t think that was necessary at all. Luke should’ve survived.

But, back to your comment (sorry for the rant). I enjoyed all the Kelvin ST films, despite some obvious continuity issues and creative choices (eg Khan = John Harrison who obviously isn’t an Indian and doesn’t resemble the original Khan at all, that’s not playing fair with the audience, and JJ kind of admitted that). I also really liked Force Awakens as I said, but had problems with The Rise of Skywalker.

So I guess I disagree that JJ ruined ST. His movies both did very well at the box office. As for SW, well Force Awakens was a hit.

Just hilarious. And how many writers over the last 8 years now?

There have been approximately 56 movie scripts, 105 directors, 762 articles featuring the cast saying “I dunno so don’t ask me,” two turtle-doves, and a Vulcan in a pear tree.

I think TM should have a special celebration when they reached their 100th article of reporting what has been completely dead space for the last 8 years lol. And a third of them of just Pine saying “I don’t know nuthin.”

And like really how hard is it to write a script of a mega villain who wants revenge against the Federation who plans to eradicate all life in it, throw in lots of explosions and fist fights along with crew banter that makes them sound like they’re still in high school with more Spock/Uhura relationship drama, some truly bad science to move the plot along and a Beastie Boys moment and bam you have your movie?

I think anyone here can write that judging by the last three movies.

Don’t forget a motorcycle…

That’s probably why the last script failed to get approval…lack of a motorcycle scene.

They were so close!

…or perhaps trouble securing the rights to play another Beastie Boys song….

One of the funniest (but truly on-target) posts I’ve seen here for awhile!

Face it, the only script that is going to pass muster with the lack-of-brains-that-be up top will probably be by the 21st century version of a committee (definition of committee: life form with six or more legs and no brain, thanks Mr. Heinlein), which is, very sad to say, AI. Just keeping tweaking the algorithm till everybody sezs, works for me.

In the olden days, Nick Meyer could do this all by himself (sigh.)

Haha you nailed it again. These movies have zero originality. The pull the same template in every movie.

I just don’t understand you have an entire new universe to play with but oddly the first two movies evolved around Earth? Why??!

It was the one thing Beyond got right but still more comic book villains unfortunately.

Billions and billions…. Carl Sagan would be impressed.

The universe doesn’t want another Kelvin Star Trek movie and I’m on the universe’s side.

My universe would be fine with another Kelvin movie. It’s a big universe. Don’t presume to speak for it .

The Kelvin movies were terrible Star Trek movies that ignored many fundamental facts about Trek canon for the convenience of a reboot no one asked for.

It was a life preserver for a franchise that, at the time of their release, was in dire straits. That has not been the case since Discovery’s debut.

Unlike Star Trek ’09, Discovery actually created a Star Trek renaissance, while the Kelvinverse floundered with each subsequent movie (i.e, we were told the reboot was done so they could tell stories they otherwise would not be able to tell, yet the very first thing they did was rehash Space Seed and Wrath of Khan as a badly-made big budget fan film…).

I was with you for a moment there…until the Discovery cheerleading blew your credibility.

begat ‘picard’, SNW, ‘prodigy’ and LDs

You mean ‘preceded’ not ‘begat’. Most or all of those different shows would have been created despite Discovery.

no the other new trek shows would not have been made if not for discovery’s success in bringing in viewers both new ie either came aboard with ent or the kelvin films and old ie most been aboard during the berman era and some since tos/tas era and showing that trek was still viable and it lead to new fans coming aboard thanks to discovery and even bringing in and holding casual veiwers and general sci-fi fans each new episode and snw is a direct spin off of discovery season 2 and would not have happened without the success of season 2 and the three late 24th/early25th century trek shows picard/lower decks and prodigy would not have happened if not for discovery

As tony pointed out, without Discovery we wouldn’t have any of the shows that followed it. Love or hate it, DIS ushered in a new era of Star Trek, just like TNG did before it.

The Kelvinverse could barely sustain two sequel movies before it imploded.

To be fair though the budgets and timing of what were supposed to be blockbuster movies vs TV shows on P+ are hugely different. I do agree tho that Kelvin ultimately failed where Discovery > succeeded.

There is nothing wrong with Discovery. Just because you don’t like it, you don’t have to negate someone’s comments because they like it.

I would take another Kelvin movie over Discovery every day of the week

I watched 2009 for the first time in many years, and to my surprise – it holds up pretty well. It’s not perfect, but it capably does the job it set out to do – establish a new universe with some changes but passing the torch from the prime universe. It’s a shame that Into Darkness truly ruined things for them after that. If there had been a proper sequel or – if the timing had been just a little bit different, they could have taken that cast to a streaming series.

Such a sad waste of a great cast and good setup.

Yet Star Trek 2009 brought in almost $400 million. This gatekeeping is tiresome. Unlike others in this group, I SUPPORT the Trek FRANCHISE. Have I liked everything? No… I’ll see Star Trek 4 if/when it comes out. You, of course, can choose to stay home. *smh*

I liked the Kelvin movies. They had their flaws, but not “Generations” level flaws. So, to my original point, My universe would be fine with another Kelvin movie. It’s a big universe, don’t presume to speak for it .

They’ll have found a writer, a producer and a director by the time Chris Pine is around the age of 60. But that’s okay, they’ll just digitally de-age him to hell and back, cause that’s how movies are made these days…

By the time they finally get their act together to make another Kelvinverse movie, Strange New Worlds will have run its course on streaming and be followed by a theatrically-released movie that shows how Pike handed the Enterprise to Kirk.

Star Trek survived in spite of the Kelvin timeline, not because of it.

As much as people hated Discovery, they would have hated it tens of thousands of times more had it been either a prequel or a sequel to Star Trek ’09 or Into Darkness. They would have DEMANDED a return to the Roddenberry/Berman canon, which is what we got.

Today, the Kelvin timeline is only brought up along with rumors of a new movie, but the more time passes the less need there is for one.

I’d much rather see films spun off from Strange New Worlds that set the proper stage for Kirk to take command of the Enterprise than seeing another Kelvin movie that redos something from the ’60s like it did with Space Seed to pander to nostalgia.

Is it weird that Chris Pine is not consulted on the script for any Star Trek projects that he is wanted for? Shatner, Nimoy, and Stewart were all the leads of their respective Trek movies, and had input on the scripts. Why doesn’t Chris Pine have similar input?

Because end of the day Pine is an actor for hire unlike those other guys who had much weight in the franchise themselves and there would be no movie without them.

Pine is the lead character in his Trek movies though. Are you suggesting that Abrams would make a Kelvin movie without Pine as Kirk?

No what I’m saying is his participation in another movie obviously has nothing to do if he approves the script or not… theirs did. That was probably in their contracts.

That’s what I mean by an actor for hire in this case. And to be honest I don’t think Pine cares either way. I can’t recall a single objection or issue he’s had with any of these movies. He probably doesn’t care what he does in them or what the story is, just happy he gets to be Kirk again.

Right. Unless Pine snags a vanity “producer” credit, he has nothing to do with the development of any potential ST movie. His biggest concern with any ST movie would be the size of his paycheck.

Not before the scripts were written, they didn’t, did they? – unless they were directing or producing.

What they’re saying is there has been 17 scripts written in the last 8 years and Pine hasn’t seen any of them.

Yes, all of them had significant input in the all of the scripts for the movies that they were in.

They did things differently forty years ago.

That’s because the distance between the decision-makers and actors was much less. As more of the studios have been bought out by mega-corporations, the decision-making has gotten further away.

Patrick Stewart was very much in control of the scripts for the Trek movies that he did 20+ years ago. Why would things be different now for a lead actor like Pine?

Because his input was by and large terrible. The chemistry-free romance subplot in Insurrection was Stewart’s idea. Nemesis killed the TNG movie franchise, and a lot of that script was Stewart’s and Spiner’s “demands” before they’d agree to it.

Yup. Actors should stick to acting.

Your response has nothing to do with my question really. A lead actor’s advice might be bad, and will likely be discarded if it is, but they still have an opportunity to be consulted because of their importance to the film.

I don’t know about that. Seems like every account of the TOS movies seems to indicate that Shatner’s real input only started after the initial draft of the script was written. Then he would provide his notes.

My point was that the Insurrection and Nemesis experience with Stewart and Spiner has probably (hopefully?) soured Paramount on allowing the actor’s a voice in the script. They might still do it if they have no choice, but I think with the Origins movie in the works, it is clear they have a choice.

I don’t recall reading the cast had much at all to do with Wrath of Khan, other than Nimoy wanting Spock to be killed off. Stewart’s and Spiner’s input in Insurrection and Nemesis are probably now “exhibit A and B” for the studio when the cast demands input in the writing. And look at the “input” that Michael Dorn wanted for Picard Season 3. Egads! Let actors be actors and let writers be writers.

In his book about the movies, Shatner does specifically talk about how he talked with Nick Meyer about the Wrath of Khan script. Shatner was unhappy with the script, and impressed with how quickly Meyer fixed what he was unhappy about.

Cool. Do you know which book that is?

Star Trek Movie Memories

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_Memories

In any ordinary movie I’m sure it would be the case that PIne would know before the public. But this is Star Trek. Everytime a phone call happens in hollywood we immediately hear about it.

Because Roddenberry, Shatner and Nimoy had been working together since at least 1966, and there were some contractual agreements and or ownership (of Star Trek) issues.

I love Chris Pine, but man I can’t help but laugh at some of the reviews for Poolman.

The bad news is the movie is currently sitting at 22% on Rotten Tomatoes. 😐

The good news is it’s still way ahead of Madame Web. 😎👍

Now 21%. Yikes. Why exactly is Pine still considered a big star?

I just checked again and it’s now at 18%.

That is brutal lol. But maybe the audience scores will be a little better. Sometimes they are vastly different or on the other side of critic reviews. Look at every season of Discovery only the opposite direction.

LOL at Web. Sony can’t make a Spiderman movie workable to save their lives without Marvel attached.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. As many have mentioned before, Trek movies are not summer blockbusters and the idea of not one but two in development given Paramount’s current state seems far fetched to me.

When the next Star Trek movie will finally see the day it will be about the failed attemps to make a sequel of Star Trek: Beyond.

I would give the Kelvin crew one last movie, to see if they can finally deliver a well written, intelligent, well acted Star Trek movie that compares with the best of Treks 1-10

The Kelvin movies had such huge potential and it was squandered on basically dumbed down cosplay movies.

But I say give them one last chance to make a Star Trek movie that we can all enjoy

The *best* of Treks 1-10 iis a pretty short list!

I think of these movies more along the lines of most watchable/rewatchable, as ‘best’ suggests there is actually a masterpiece or two, when that’s not the case. Even TWOK has a look in the live-action that is just cheap at times. Doesn’t stop me from rewatching the first 7 an awful lot of times though, even when it is ones I usually just watch to bitch about them.

Yes, TWOK was a budget pic and – sadly – looks like a budget pic. Both that and TUC could have probably been great movies if they’d had better production values, some script tweaks and better guest casts.

Perhaps but I would take The Final Frontier over Into Darkness any day.

Thats the problem. They already tried. They tried to remake arguably the best Trek movie there has ever been. But they forgot that people grew up with Shatner and Nimoy and Kelley and they were beloved for decades. “Kirk” and “Spock” or not, they tried to illicit emotions from the death(s) of people we had exactly one movie with. I don’t think they can recreate the magic of the TOS movies.

You’ve apparently never seen Generations or Final Frontier.

If they tried a bit harder to make them original and something more than just big action movies fans would be more excited about them.

The problem is while they were fun and easy to follow they were also pretty forgetful after you watched them. There is a reason no one really talks about them much today. Besides being set in another universe that has nothing to do with the the universe that has all the history and characters there was just no real meat. I will give STID some credit and say it did look like they were going for something a little more ambitious story wise with Section 31 fears of the Klingons attacking and what the destruction of Vulcan meant to the dynamics of the Alpha quadrant.

There were some interesting ideas that could’ve taken these movies into a bigger more interesting path. Something along the lines of DS9 for the big screen.

Instead none of that mattered and it just became more mindless action with ‘Khan’ trying to kill everybody. And then Beyond just ignored all of it in the next story and it was just another generic action movie even if was a more decent one.

While I wouldn’t say these movies are as bad as what happened with the Star Wars sequels it’s still close enough in my book because like those they had so much potential to do some really great and interesting things with these movies that could’ve expanded the universe and give us some really unique and thoughtful stories.

Instead it was squandered for inane action stuff with Kirk doing space jumps or angry villains trying to destroy the Federation again and again. 🙄

It’s why I don’t remotely care about these movies. Sure the next one can be fun and a good time had by all but it will probably be something people will stop thinking about ten minutes after they watched it like every big popcorn action movie out there.

“Besides being set in another universe that has nothing to do with the the universe that has all the history and characters..”

thats why the only real reason to do a 4th would be a crossover with Primeverse (hell Orci realised that for ST3!)

Nice article, but much ado about nothing.

I have now probably spent a few hours altogether reading about Star Trek 4 and I have spent zero hours watching Star Trek 4.

All the time we wasted over the years discussing a movie that will probably never come. It’s pretty surreal.

Time for DS9 or Voyager movie… Hell a Legacy movie would be great too.

I would love to return to DS9 but it would be sad without Odo and Nog. Those 2 in a lot of ways were the heart of the show.

I haven’t watch Trek09 for ~10 years but the Trek History clip reminded me of how spectacular it was from a visual standpoint. Contrary to many, I much preferred Trek09 (and to a lesser extent Into Darkness), than Beyond. If only they hadn’t brought back Khan and cut the length of time between movies, they might have had a very successful film series on their hands but it was not to be.

TV Trek is the entree, and Movie Trek is the dessert. We’re generally eating well, so I’m satiated as a fan… but I think it’s time for some dessert. Anyway, the point of the analogy here is that I’m just glad we have TV Trek to make the large gaps between Movie Trek feel less impactful. Would I rather have dessert more regularly? Yes. Is it all that big of a deal as long as I’m otherwise eating well? No.

I have come here to watch trek movies and chew bubble gum … and somehow I’m all out of both.

I would love a movie that starred all four Chris’s. They would all play brothers with the name Robert, but different versions of it: Bob, Robbie, Robert, Bobby. It would be a road movie comedy with a lot of heart.

It’s never a good look when your lead actor is perpetually in interviews saying basically, “I’m ready to go, the studio just never has their act together.”

Also: I’m sure the intent was good, but in the context of this article a new ‘nostalgic’ trailer for the 2009 movie just feels like trolling the fans. We don’t want to look back, we’re with Pine looking forward but tired of waiting. Let’s go already.

At this point Paramount could make a feature length documentary about how badly they have fumbled this movie franchise since Beyond. Maybe Shatner could host it, sort of like Chaos on the Bridge .

Only trek movie worth making is the Kelvin reunion for 1 last adventure story! Anything else is a waste of time & money for theatrical as no-one is going to show up for it! Get the Kelvin crew back people will show & if its any good then it will do ok!

The last Kelvin movie was decent but that still bombed too. They are clearly worried the next one can bomb again and with so much time passing less people care about it.

the reason beyond bombed was cause of multiple issues the of which one big part was the boycotting of the movie that happened with some of the fan base and another big part due to the lack of marketing for the movie and the fubar first trailer which had to be adressed by the writers and exec producers for the film and new trailer was made to replace the first one but the damage was done and for a smaller part the studio execs focusing more on the international relese doing well over the domestic release doing well

Yeah…and you can see the amazing job they been doing trying to get the next one off the ground. 😂

I think the next movie will have all the same stumbles Beyond did because this studio is just too incompetent on how to make and market Star Trek.

Can, you… Please, learn, I say learn, to use punctuation!!! ?

I doubt the Axanar fans boycott had any effect on the boxoffice, just my own opinion.

I never even heard of Axanar until a few years ago. I doubt most fans knew or cared about it outside of the hardcore ones.

It was boring. Yes even destroying the Enterprise again was banal.

Yes destroying the Enterprise really turned me off to this movie. We seen it twice already. Enough.

i love when they trash or destroy the hero ships in trek movies mainly cause it give me another excuse to build a battle dameged or partially destoyed enterprise model or a diorama of part of a enterprise crashed on the a planets surface plus it is a awesome visual treat

I saw ST09 opening weekend , could barely believe i was watching a no expense spared Trek film costing same as any latest blockbuster of the time Transformers, XMen, Terminator, Batman etc (1st truly mega budget Trek since ’79!) and was just wow’d by the FX and scale and seeing TOS reimagined but still retaining sequel/prequel elements (Harve Bennett must’ve been screaming from his Paramount office ‘i told ya’s!’), and the box office numbers were insane for Trek, and the whole thing made Star Trek cool at long last (or at least since First Contact), it seemed even non fans were loving it and becoming Trek fans catching up on ToS and more . And everyone was looking forward to the sequel that would surely come out Sumner 2011..wouldnt it..?

Wish they could still do the original plan for 3. What was the point of doing a new timeline and just making a soft reboot with Beyond that acted like Into Darkness never happened. And trying to do Guardians of the Furious.

I would love the Orci ST3 adapted for ST4, complete with (by 2026) 95y old Shatner returning!

Top 10 Chris Pine news headlines on updates about Star Trek 4.

“Pine says he heard rumors a script was completed from a YouTube video…and told it was awesome!” September 9, 2017

“Pine says he’s happy S.J. Clarkson has been picked to be the new director and not only predicts she will definitely make the movie but confident she will go on to a great film career.” April 28, 2018

“Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth has officially left Star Trek 4 over a pay dispute but Pine is confident it will be resolved and filming should begin very very soon.” August 4, 2018

“Pine says he read another movie is definitely happening soon but only needs a script, director, budget, starting date and actual investors before cameras can begin rolling.” July 2019

“Pine read Quintin Tarantino is interested in directing the next Star Trek movie and feels really confident it’s going to happen this time.” May 7, 2021

“Pine just been informed on Facebook Tarantino left the project years ago.” May 8, 2021

“Pine says he got a text from JJ Abrams today stating they will definitely begin shooting the next movie by the end of the year.” April 1, 2022

“Pine heard the next movie has lost Matt Shakman as director but says the commenters on Reddit has assured him he wil be replaced very soon.” August 28, 2022

“Pine has still heard no word about another movie but says maybe because he changed phone number recently and wants to give Paramount his new one in case they been trying to reach him.” October 2, 2023

“Pine says he heard from Zachery Quinto who heard from Karl Urban who heard from John Cho who heard from Simon Peg who read in the trades Paramount is still planning to make another movie.” March 9, 2024

Very funny. At first I thought they were real until I got to the second one and they got more funny as they went.

These movies seem to be in a huge bind. I do feel a little bad for Chris Pine, he does seem like he likes being in these movies and it must be frustrating to hear one is happening only to get stalled over and over again.

But he’s also very rich and famous now because of them so his life will go on if he never does another one haha.

Lol thanks!

Yeah Pine is probably frustrated beyond belief over it. I mean they announced the fourth movie and signed the guy up before Beyond even opened, first time that’s ever been done.

And seeing what a disaster it became since it will probably be the last time too. 😂

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch…

Star Trek 4 should be about going back in time trying to save Kirk’s father aka Chris Hemsworth to fix the Kelvin timeline! Of course they succeed and it ends with everything happening the way it supposed to: Prime Timeline. This would nicely close the loop of the Kelvin-movies and ending them the way they started. It would be a great what-if story like Yesterday’s Enterprise.

Yes I think that would be great Chris Hemsworth is red hot right now Furiosa is raising his profile even higher! Paramount just need to pay the Chris’s their worth & get JJ back to direct!

PLEASE… NO JJ! He is the worst thing to happen to Trek. He made it just to get to Star Wars. JJ is a crap Director. Keep him away.

Agreed. JJ Abrams is what made these movies into superficial and empty action movies IMO. All style and zero substance with some of the most ridiculous storylines in any Star Trek movie. STID was an abomination.

Sorry but that sounds horrible. And didn’t they cancel that idea years ago already?

Yeah they did. And the idea they had for it sounded really stupid. Somehow George Kirk manage to beam himself into a transporter after we already saw the guy get blown up.😂🙄

But it’s JJ verse, what do you expect.

I just assume a 4th JJ movie is DOA. A bankrupt studio with no financing doesn’t make risky ventures like 300 million dollar Star Trek films when Beyond flopped. I mean the last Mission Impossible flopped because of the budget, the market conditions aren’t there for a film to work like Trek 2009 or Into Darkness.

The last one should’ve only been around $100 million and not $200 million. Stop trying to turn Star Trek into Star Wars, Marvel or Transformer movies, it will never have that kind of demand.

Star Trek is not built to make billion dollar movies. And it was always more successful on TV anyway.

And if they end up selling off Paramount piece by piece there probably won’t be another movie for years to come and probably on a tiny budget if one does get made.

I doubt we will ever see these movies again. They never really became the hit Paramount wanted. After the curiosity factor was gone after the first one and less people cared about the sequels.

I would like to see another Star Trek movie someday, but something that is actual Star Trek and not these hyper action movies with the same poor and formulaic stories and character development like these movies had.

When they turned Kirk into an one dimensional action hero along with being an immature spoiled college student and also went from cadet to Captain in the space of three years is when I saw these movies more like a parody instead of the thoughtful science fiction show I grew up with. I couldn’t take any of them seriously after that.

Please produce real stories again, not these Michael Bay knock offs

While I agree with your critical opinion, it has to be said that STID outgrossed the 2009 film and was the first Trek film to ever gross more overseas than domestically. Unchecked budget and divisive fan opinions aside, it was a textbook case of growing an audience.

You’re completely right internationally. More people watched it. I was thinking about America specifically since that is Trek biggest audience and where it makes the most money. But every movie got less people to watch it here when the opposite should’ve been happening.

That’s true but to be honest the other two movies only did better internationally due to China, which Paramount pished hard to play in. If you look at the other countries there really wasn’t a big improvement in box office with either Into Darkness or Beyond.

And also the numbers were more inflated because they made the movie in 3D (remember when that used to be a big deal?) and charged more on those tickets. They also added a lot more theaters in general than the first movie, especially in China.

But basically they just made China a bigger priority because many studios were at the time. Of course it still counts but I doubt today any new movie would even get half what the others got there.

Someone here even said Beyond would’ve flopped much worse and made less than $300 million if it wasn’t for China. That’s how much the country mattered to the BO back then.

i wrote a multi page plot treatment for a 4th kelvin film ment to wrap up the story it is called star trek past reset it has lots of action some deaths of 2 main characters ,a time jump, a reunion and some time travel that stops Nero anddestroys his ship before he could cripple the kelvin to badly

I’m going to be very honest with you but no one is going to want to read a multi page plot treatment if you can’t even do the bare minimum basics in punctuation. This is something you learn in elementary school.

I know it’s just a message board but if you want anyone to take your writing seriously you have to learn to do that first.

Sounds interesting, post some more details

posted the links the the pages that are on my deviantart

here is the links to my plot treatment i wrote https://www.deviantart.com/michellejosph/art/Star-Trek-past-reset-part-1-917879877

https://www.deviantart.com/michellejosph/art/Star-Trek-past-reset-part-2-917879738

https://www.deviantart.com/michellejosph/art/Star-Trek-past-reset-part-3-917879614

https://www.deviantart.com/michellejosph/art/Star-Trek-past-reset-part-4-917879459

https://www.deviantart.com/michellejosph/art/Star-Trek-past-reset-part-5-917879283

Cool story,I liked it alot. abit like Star Trek ‘Endgame’

I’m over the Kelvin movies. What I’d like to see is a fresh start, maybe set post TNG era with new characters.

Now we’re talking. Exactly.

Most fans are ready to go forward again, not backwards. Do something new already with a clean slate and new characters.

I would love a 25th century movie, but 50 years after Picard.

Trouble is the OS era is more popular to the general audience than TNG, despite the latter getting the biggest ratings for ‘trek’ on tv

And yet the next movie is supposed to be a prequel that isn’t going to be about TOS or those characters, so what difference does it make? New fans aren’t going to care either way about new characters so why not just go forward again with new characters and the universe can expand instead of more prequels only fans will even care about?

Not one of the Kelvin actors is hurting for work. I’m sure they would all like the opportunity to make another, but even if a script is approved and goes into pre-production, getting everyone’s schedules to line up for filming could be difficult.

While not my favorite iteration of Trek, I would enjoy seeing one last adventure with this cast. I really liked Beyond , even though Paramount could not figure out how to market it or the franchise’s 50th.

Chris Pine Opens Up About Star Trek 4 And Why The Franchise Has 'Struggled' Compared To Marvel

Seeing Marvel's success would make anyone question their franchise.

The Star Trek 4 reports caught a number of people off guard, as even Chris Pine and the rest of the cast were surprised . This is even more shocking considering that the cast was said to be in talks to return . Shortly after the news broke, Pine claimed they were the last to know about the latest installment. Now that the dust has settled somewhat, the Dungeons and Dragons actor is really opening up about the fourth film as well as how the franchise has struggled compared to Marvel.

The All the Old Knives actor was interviewed by Deadline and gave his take on being part of the storied sci-fi franchise. Just as co-star Karl Urban did when he broke his silence , Chris Pine confirmed that he hadn't seen a script yet. However, he did mention that he'd met with Star Trek 4 director Matt Shakman and Paramount’s new executive regime, with the meetings seemingly having gone well. Pine would go on to profess his love for the franchise in which he's played Captain James T. Kirk for three movies:

Conceptually, I love it. I love Star Trek. Again, I love the messaging of it. I love the character. I love my friends with whom I get to play. It’s a great gig. I mean, it’s a gig I’ve had, working and not working, for 15-plus years. It cemented the career that I have now. I’m honored to be a part of it. It’s given me so much. I think there are plenty of stories to tell in it. You know, I think Star Trek for me, it’s an interesting one.

The Star Trek Beyond actor definitely doesn’t mind expressing his gratitude to the high-grossing film series. While the Kelvin universe has grossed close to $1 billion worldwide, the returns were viewed as somewhat meager compared to the profits of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's multiple billion-dollar films. The Kirk actor spoke on how those benchmarks loomed over his own franchise:

We always tried to get the huge international market. It was always about making the billion dollars. It was always this billion-dollar mark because Marvel was making a billion. Billion, billion, billion. We struggled with it because Star Trek, for whatever reason, its core audience is rabid. Like rabid, as you know. To get these people that are interested that maybe are Star Wars fans or think Star Trek is not cool or whatever, proven to be … we’ve definitely done a good job of it but not the billion-dollar kind of job that they want.

Chris Pine seems to understand the Star Trek brand is a bit more niche compared to Disney staples like Marvel and Star Wars . Competing in the MCU era can be a huge undertaking for any studio, to be honest. Still, the actor appears pleased with how the Trek movies turned out. He later opined about how the franchise should’ve been more concerned with the avid fanbase than billion-dollar returns:

I’ve always thought that Star Trek should operate in the zone that is smaller. You know, it’s not a Marvel appeal. It’s like, let’s make the movie for the people that love this group of people, that love this story, that love Star Trek. Let’s make it for them and then, if people want to come to the party, great. But make it for a price and make it, so that if it makes a half-billion dollars, that’s really good.

Appealing more to the multi-generational fanbase may have been the better route for the Kelvin timeline films. Sure, it doesn't hurt to try to bring in new viewers but, in doing so, one runs the risk of alienating the core audience. The Wonder Woman actor took his thoughts a step further by explaining what he would do with the ballooning costs of tentpole films:

But we operate in a system now which I don’t know how much longer we have of you have to spend 500 million dollars on a film to reach …even you have to pay all sorts of people back. So, to make a billion, it’s like you haven’t even — a billion is the gross. You haven’t brought your net in. So, I mean, if I had my business suit on, that’s what I would do, but I don’t know where that is. That’s all above my pay grade.

The actor-producer has clearly put a lot of thought into how one could best market and finance such films. Of course, when it comes to the Trek franchise he's not making those decisions. Hopefully, Paramount will take care while developing this latest film and not get too caught up in the Marvel numbers. 

It's unknown when the movie could start shooting, but Star Trek 4 is set to arrive in theaters on December 22, 2023, seven years after the release of Star Trek Beyond (which the new movie could learn from) . In the meantime, you can stream the first three films with an Amazon Prime subscription .

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Steve Yockey , creator of the Max series “The Flight Attendant,” is joining Starfleet as the new screenwriter for “ Star Trek 4.”

Story details remain under a powerful cloaking device, but Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot still intend the project to be the final chapter for the cast that rebooted the franchise in movie theaters with 2009’s “Star Trek,” including Chris Pine (as Capt. James T. Kirk), Zachary Quinto (as Cmdr. Spock), Zoe Saldaña (as Lt. Nyota Uhura), Karl Urban (as Dr. Leonard McCoy), John Cho (as Lt. Hikaru Sulu) and Simon Pegg (as chief engineer Montgomery Scott). ( Variety first reported the news in its cover story on the future of the “Star Trek” franchise.)

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Yockey’s involvement is the most promising sign of forward momentum the project has had since. The playwright started his TV writing career on the MTV series “Awkward” and “Scream,” before joining the writing staff of “Supernatural” for four seasons. His latest series, the Sandman universe adaptation “Dead Boy Detectives,” will premiere on Netflix in April.

Paramount is also developing a separate “Star Trek” project, with writer Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and director by Toby Haynes (“Black Mirror: USS Callister”), that would feature a new cast in a story meant as a kind of origin story for the franchise. A project with screenwriter Kalinda Vazquez (“Fear the Walking Dead”) first announced in 2021 also remains in development.

Yockey is represented by CAA and Slate PR.

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Chris Pine got his movie-star education from Denzel Washington

The director, cowriter, and star of "Poolman" reflects on his rise through Hollywood's ranks, from his rom-com days to playing Captain Kirk.

"Is this on camera?" Chris Pine asks me as we stare at each other through the magic of Zoom.

Sporting a graying beard, perfectly combed shoulder-length hair, and a loose-fitting yellow and white cardigan, Pine certainly appears camera-ready. But once I tell him that video won't be recorded, he slouches back in his chair, seemingly pleased that he can keep a toothpick dangling from his mouth during our conversation.

Whether he's playing the handsome leading man in a rom-com or an intensely focused franchise star, Pine has the uncanny ability to adapt into the movie star that's needed at any particular moment. And right now, with the cameras not technically rolling, he doesn't have to be one at all.

Pine didn't want to be a movie star growing up, either. A third-generation actor, he first avoided going into the family business. As a die-hard Yankees fan thanks to his East Coast-raised father, a teenage Pine dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player like his idol, Yankee great Don Mattingly.

When that phase passed ("Kids were starting to pitch faster," he said), he dabbled in theater. But it wasn't until he returned home from a stint studying abroad in the UK during college that he decided to pursue acting in earnest.

"It wasn't a passion," Pine says. "It's something that I found."

But the childhood memories of both his parents struggling to find work as actors stayed with him. His mother, Gwynne Gilford, eventually gave up acting to become a therapist. Though his father, Robert Pine, is still working as a veteran character actor best known for playing Sergeant Getraer on the late-1970s hit series "CHiPs," he was keeping the family afloat gig by gig during Pine's childhood.

Those Hollywood anxieties are present in Pine's directorial debut, "Poolman," in theaters Friday. Though the film is hardly autobiographical — Pine stars as a burnout pool cleaner in LA who's trying to uncover a city scandal — his character gets support from two parental figures in his life, who are struggling showbiz types played by Danny DeVito and Annette Bening.

"There's a scene at the end when Danny's character, Jack, says that his agent finally called back and offered him a sitcom for $75,000 an episode, and he turned it down," Pine says. He looks down in his lap, almost reliving what he's describing. "And Annette's character has a conniption fit."

Pine finally looks up.

"That's my childhood," he continues. "The dream was for my father to get a television show that paid $70,000 an episode, and that would finally get us out of financial distress."

With a filmography that charts an impressive ascension from heartthrob to the face of IP-fueled blockbusters to prestige fare, it's safe to say that distress is now behind him.

In Business Insider's latest Role Play interview , Pine discusses why he refuses to watch some of his rom-coms, learning how to be a movie star via Denzel Washington, and the untimely end of the "Wonder Woman" franchise.

On hating working at restaurants and refusing to watch his old rom-coms

Early Chris Pine is a trip to watch. You played a hard partier in an episode of "E.R." You cried in front of David Caruso in "CSI: Miami." At that time in your life, were you just going after anything?

Fuck yeah! Don't be a waiter. Actually, I was a host at a restaurant and just hated it. Could not have hated it anymore. I was not a people person. It was all about just getting work.

You started getting noticed thanks to romantic comedies — "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement," "Just My Luck," "Blind Dating" — would you watch any of those titles now? Like, if you're in a hotel room flipping through the channels and it comes on.

I mean, not a chance. And that's for most of my films. It's too difficult because then you're thinking, "God, why did I fucking do that?" Or "Why did they pick that take?"

What I will say, though, is I get more people coming up to me about "Princess Diaries 2," and I think that's because it's played for so many generations of young girls now. So that's a trip.

On being comfortable playing Captain Kirk — by movie No. 3

Playing Captain Kirk in the "Star Trek" movies must have been daunting — not only were you taking on an iconic IP, but the actor who originated the character, William Shatner, is still so synonymous with Kirk. Were you ever comfortable in that role?

It's interesting. Karl Urban decided to go head first into McCoy because Karl loved "Star Trek." With Spock, you have to do Spock-like things, plus Zach [Quinto] kind of looked like Leonard [Nimoy]. And then Kirk is a tricky one. You are the lead of the band of characters, so you don't want to occupy too much space. It's fine if they are doing a thing, but you don't want to. And J.J. [Abrams] never asked me to do a thing, though I did do little nods to Shatner because it was fun.

But I would say I felt most in his shoes in the third movie. By that point, I think I mellowed into it and didn't feel like I was trying too hard.

Has the ship sailed to do Kirk again?

I honestly don't know. There was something in the news of a new writer coming on board. I thought there was already a script, but I guess I was wrong, or they decided to pivot. As it's always been with "Trek," I just wait and see.

On getting a crash course in being a movie star from Denzel Washington and playing a 'non-charming' leading man

"Unstoppable" is the moment, I feel, where you're not fucking around anymore. Tony Scott, working across from Denzel Washington —

Youth really is wasted on the young [ laughs ]. It's such an awesome moment. It's one of the biggest films of the year; all the lights are shining on you, all the possibility of you being able to do whatever you want. I really wish I took more effort to enjoy that moment. 

I was reading a lot of scripts at the time, and I was on a plane when I read this one. And I didn't want to like it because it's a train. It's like, what is my job in this fucking film? The train is going to explode and then it's not. You know exactly what is going to happen.

But Mark Bomback wrote this incredible script, and I was on the plane, and I couldn't stop reading it. I would push it away — No. Buuut. No, nope. Buuut. I just could not turn away from it. Plus, Tony Scott was a god to me. He'd done "Days of Thunder" and "Top Gun," and then you add into that mix Denzel, plus that it's a two-hander that takes place in one location. From an acting class standpoint, I'm getting paid a lot of money to learn at the feet of one of the best who has ever done it. It was out of control cool. I learned more from that set about what it means to be a movie star than probably anything else. 

Before "Hell or High Water," you'd worked with Ben Foster in "The Finest Hours." How much of the praise you received for that movie do you attribute to the comfort you two had in working together?

I think it's more than that. Taylor [Sheridan] wrote a banger script. That script is one of the five best scripts I've ever read in my entire life. So you have the writing. Then you have David [Mackenzie] coming off of making "Starred Up," which is an incredible film, and then you have the Jeff Bridges of it all.

I think I held my own there, but you have these two incredibly dynamic actors: Jeff is the legend, and Ben is a caged animal of an actor. I had a lot of fun because up until that point, I hadn't played a closed-off, non-talkative, non-charming leading man. So I was really stoked to take that on. I think it was all the pieces coming together, not just one thing.

On turning down 'Wonder Woman' twice before director Patty Jenkins convinced him by bringing up 'Casablanca'

By the time you did the "Wonder Woman" franchise, you had done your fair share of blockbusters. Was there a moment in filming the first movie when you realized this one was different than the others?

I got pitched the film and didn't want to do it. Patty came on board and I still didn't want to do it. I had no interest in playing the boyfriend, and it sounded like second fiddle. Then, in talking to Patty, the way she described it was, "Forget the superhero of it all, this is a romance, this is "Casablanca," that's the movie I want to make." And I was like, oh, now that is very cool, because when had you seen a superhero film that was a love story, ultimately? That had nothing to do with blowing shit up.

For me, the pivotal moment is the scene on the tarmac; it's "Casablanca" by a different name. So when I saw that film, man. Film is not an actor's medium, it's a director's and editor's medium, and shit can go wrong really fast, and that was a movie where you're in the theater and you get lost in it. You forget you're in it. That's when you know it's gold.

Do you or Gal Gadot or Patty feel that there's unfinished business with the franchise not doing a third movie?

Me? No. Homie is dead. Steve is gonzo. It would be ridiculous to try to bring me back.

I'm stunned that they said no to a billion-dollar franchise and decided to pivot elsewhere. I don't know what the reasoning was behind that; it's above my pay grade, but Wonder Woman is an incredible character, and Patty is such a thoughtful director. Even think of "Wonder Woman 1984" — that's a blockbuster movie that is a hero's journey not about revenge. I mean, wow. People poo-pooed it, but wow!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

"Poolman" is in theaters May 10.

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Review: In ‘Poolman,’ a familiar kind of laid-back L.A. sleuth rises to the occasion

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Chris Pine might love Los Angeles more than anyone else does. He also loves movies about Los Angeles, talking about movies about Los Angeles, going to the movies in Los Angeles and making movies about making movies in Los Angeles, which is all laid out in his affable directorial debut, “Poolman,” a love letter and homage to (and satire of) stoner L.A. noirs. Pine co-wrote the script with Ian Gotler and stars in the title role as goofy Darren Barrenman, a.k.a. DB, a slacker pool cleaner with eyes the same cerulean shade as the chlorinated body of water he tends to with an almost religious ecstasy.

This Ken ’s job is “pool,” and in “Poolman,” a riff on “Chinatown” that keeps announcing itself as such, DB has to follow the water. Our unlikely hero is the Dude from “The Big Lebowski” as a manic pixie dream boy, an effervescently charming and inexplicably quirky chap. With his willingness to be vulnerable, childlike enthusiasm and unique wardrobe, DB also calls to mind another memorable L.A. character: Pee-wee Herman .

DB lives in an RV in the courtyard of a downtrodden apartment complex, rattling off typewritten letters to Erin Brockovich and hanging with his motley crew of pals, including his therapist Diane (Annette Bening), documentary film collaborator Jack (Danny DeVito), girlfriend Susan (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and buddy and associate Wayne (John Ortiz). Together they ruminate about the good old days of L.A. when they’re not storming city council meetings with dramatic filibusters about bus schedules.

But this isn’t just another shaggy-dog hangout movie, showcasing Pine’s appreciation for classic movies, beloved actors, old-school L.A. restaurants, short shorts and silly hats. Enter the femme fatale at the edge of the pool. In a sculptural 1940s-inspired frock and hat, she is June Del Ray (DeWanda Wise), the assistant to the city council member (Stephen Tobolowsky) with whom DB is locked in a brutal yet banal battle. She tells DB she has dirt on her boss, who she says is collaborating in a shady real estate deal with a developer named Teddy Hollandaise (Clancy Brown). With a bat of her eyelashes, the poolman becomes a P.I.

“Poolman” is Pine’s guileless take on the movies that he name-checks throughout, like the frequently referenced “Chinatown” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” But it unfolds like more recent films such as “Inherent Vice” and “Under the Silver Lake” — self-conscious takes on L.A. noir that come with extra layers of existentialism and winking commentary. Pine seems less motivated to comment on the genre, just happy to be playing in the sandbox, flinging around the iconography, archetypes and extremely niche references.

The Achilles’ heel of “Poolman” is its tendency toward hyper-specific geographical jokes; it’s a bit too “inside baseball” to appeal to anyone outside of L.A. and sometimes feels like a feature-length version of the “Saturday Night Live” sketch “The Californians” (Pine’s long blond locks add to that sensation). The central mystery is flabby and uncompelling and it feels obligatory at best, a real estate scandal offering a loose background in front of which these actors play.

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And the best part of the movie is the cast. If Pine has great taste in anything, it’s actors. He’s assembled an ensemble that includes a superstar (Bening, having a ball), a comedic heavy-hitter (DeVito, spouting an almost nonstop monologue about parking and pie) and a group of character actors who always make you feel like you’re in safe, capable hands. Add to that a compelling ingenue (Wise) and at least one delightful weirdo (Ray Wise) and the film would be entertaining even if they just read the phone book.

Eventually, the plot twists spiral out of control, and it never quite feels like Pine and Gotler have control over this vehicle careening over the surface streets of our city. But there’s such a woo-woo warmth to the endeavor that it’s never an entirely unpleasant experience. Pine’s “Poolman” is sort of the physical, emotional and spiritual embodiment of Los Angeles itself: earnest, silly and a little (or a lot) ridiculous, but insistently charming if you decide to surrender to the experience.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

'Poolman'

Rating: R, for some language and brief sexuality Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes Playing: In limited release May 10

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‘Poolman’ Review: Chris Pine Gives It His All, Which Is Not Enough

The trying-to-be-edgy comedic tone and presence of danny devito might make you think you're watching an unaired episode of 'it’s always sunny in philadelphia.' but chris pine's writing-directing debut isn't nearly that good..

Chris Pine seems like a nice guy. He has a clear reverence for cinema, for Los Angeles and for his fellow actors. Historically, he’s proven to be a talented actor with the star power to carry a blockbuster film like Star Trek , as well as indies like Hell or High Water . But as good-natured and skilled as he appears, Pine can’t direct a movie. Or, at least, Poolman , his directorial debut, fails on multiple levels. Written by Pine alongside Ian Gotler , the film struggles to find its tone and its narrative, despite an A-level cast and crew. 

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Pine plays Darren Barrenman, a Los Angeles pool cleaner who either pays homage to or is a pale imitation of Jeff Bridges’ The Dude from The Big Lebowski . Darren lives in a trailer adjacent to the swimming pool of the Tahitian Tiki complex where he works and spends his free time writing letters to Erin Brockovich, which attempt to narrate an otherwise convoluted story. Along with a group of his pals, including Annette Bening ’s therapist Diane, Danny DeVito ’s Jack, and Jennifer Jason Leigh ’s Pilates instructor Susan, Darren frequently goes up against the city of Los Angeles with complaints about new land developments (or something like that). He also might be trying to make a movie or possibly a TV show. Darren uncovers a conspiracy involving a local politician named Stephen ( Stephen Tobolowsky ) and mysterious femme fatale June ( Dewanda Wise ) that is related to water . Or maybe to zoning rights? Honestly, the story is a muddled mess that never clears itself up. 

Poolman is presumably a satire of LA noir films like Chinatown , but DeVito and the trying-to-be-edgy comedic tone frequently trick you into thinking you’re watching an unaired episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia . The story is largely to blame for how much the movie falters, especially since Pine called in a notably talented crew to make the visuals look decent. Matthew Jensen, who shot Wonder Woman , acts as the DP and attempts to infuse a nostalgic sense of classic noir into the scenes. But even the music by Andrew Bird can’t transform this into an enjoyable 100 minutes.

I’m sure Pine meant well. He probably had a good idea and couldn’t execute it. An incredibly stoned person wouldn’t be able to decipher Poolman —and neither can a general audience. The entire cast, especially Pine, gives their all. It’s a lot of great actors attempting to find footing in the deep end of a stagnant, murky pool. It’s a miss, without any sense of being entertaining for all its flaws. Everyone here can do better and should. And next time, leave poor Erin Brockovich out of it. 

• SEE ALSO : Will Keen On Playing Vladimir Putin On Broadway in ‘Patriots’

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Chris Pine Was Surprised by New ‘Star Trek 4' Writer Hire Because ‘I Thought There Was Already a Script…I Was Wrong or They Decided to Pivot'

Chris Pine was taken by surprise when news hit that Steve Yockey, creator of the Max series "The Flight Attendant," had signed on to write the script for "Star Trek 4." Why? "I thought there was already a script," the actor recently told Business Insider during an interview on his "Poolman" press tour.

Pine's not wrong, as a potential "Star Trek 4" has gone through multiple iterations in the years since the 2016 release of "Star Trek Beyond." Pine took on the role of Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams' 2009 franchise reboot "Star Trek," and reprised the character in 2013's "Star Trek Into Darkness" and 2016's "Beyond." Variety exclusively reported  in March that Paramount Pictures remained committed to making a fourth "Star Trek" film to be headlined by Pine and his co-stars.

The actor's fellow "Star Trek" cast members include Zachary Quinto (as Cmdr. Spock), Zoe Saldaña (as Lt. Nyota Uhura), Karl Urban (as Dr. Leonard McCoy), John Cho (as Lt. Hikaru Sulu) and Simon Pegg (as chief engineer Montgomery Scott).

"I honestly don't know," Pine told Business Insider when asked about "Star Trek 4" updates. "There was something in the news of a new writer coming on board. I thought there was already a script, but I guess I was wrong, or they decided to pivot. As it's always been with "Trek," I just wait and see."

Steve Yockey is the latest screenwriter to get a chance to pen the script for "Star Trek 4." Attempts over the years to get the sequel off the ground have included an R-rated idea from none other then Quentin Tarantino. Another version of the project was to be directed by Matt Shakman ("WandaVision") and written by Lindsey Beer ("Sierra Burgess Is a Loser") and Geneva Robertson-Dworet ("Captain Marvel"). Shakman left the project to direct Marvel's "The Fantastic Four" instead, and it fell apart soon afterwards.

Whether or not Yockey's "Stark Trek 4" gets off the ground remains to be seen. Paramount is also developing a second "Star Trek" movie that would serve as an origin story for the franchise. That project hails from screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith ("Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter") and director by Toby Haynes ("Black Mirror: USS Callister"). Another "Trek" project with screenwriter Kalinda Vazquez ("Fear the Walking Dead") that was first announced in 2021 also remains in development.

In his Business Insider interview , Pine also said that it wasn't until the third movie that he finally felt comfortable on set playing Kirk. The character was made famous by William Shatner.

"It's interesting. Karl Urban decided to go head first into McCoy because Karl loved ‘Star Trek,'" Pine said. "With Spock, you have to do Spock-like things, plus Zach [Quinto] kind of looked like Leonard [Nimoy]. And then Kirk is a tricky one. You are the lead of the band of characters, so you don't want to occupy too much space. It's fine if they are doing a thing, but you don't want to. And J.J. [Abrams] never asked me to do a thing, though I did do little nods to Shatner because it was fun."

"But I would say I felt most in his shoes in the third movie. By that point, I think I mellowed into it and didn't feel like I was trying too hard," Pine added.

More from Variety

• 93-Year-Old William Shatner 'Might Consider' Returning as Captain Kirk in New 'Star Trek' Project Through De-Aging: 'It Takes Years Off of Your Face'
• Chris Pine Is 'Stunned' by 'Wonder Woman 3' Getting Axed, Not That He Would've Returned: 'It Would Be Ridiculous to Try to Bring Me Back'