Paramount has removed the untitled ‘Star Trek’ sequel from its upcoming film. The project, produced by JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot, was slated to hit theaters on December 22, 2023.
The rather inevitable news comes about a month after director Matt Shakman left the “Star Trek” movie, which was nominally supposed to be the fourth film tour of duty for Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Karl Urban. as Bones, John Cho as Sulu and Simon Pegg as Scotty. Shakman successfully courted Marvel Studios to helm the “Fantastic Four” reboot, reuniting the “WandaVision” director with the studio after “Spider-Man: No Way Home” director Jon Watts left the film in April .
Shakman was first linked to the “Star Trek” sequel in the summer of 2021 after his famous run directing every episode of “WandaVision” — the “Trek” announcement even landed on the same day Shakman was nominated for Emmy for the show.
Then, this February, Abrams announced during the Paramount Global Investors Day presentation that a new “Trek” movie “will be shot by the end of the year” and will feature “our original cast.”
The only problem, according to insiders, was that Pine, Quinto and the rest of the cast had not yet officially signed on for the film when Abrams made his announcement, leaving Paramount less than a year to secure the coveted actors.
With the film now off schedule, that deadline is no longer looming, but it still leaves Paramount with no plans to enter its most valuable franchise. The last “Trek” feature came in 2016 with “Star Trek Beyond.” Directed by Justin Lin, “Beyond” earned $343.5 million worldwide — the lowest gross of any of the “Trek” reboots since Bad Robot.
It wasn’t for lack of trying, either: Paramount has followed up with several “Trek” movies since “Beyond,” including reuniting Pine and Chris Hemsworth (who played Kirk’s father in 2009’s “Star Trek”) for director SJ Clarkson , also. as releases overseen by “Fargo” writer Noah Hawley and, yes, even Quentin Tarantino. None of them managed to reach orbit.
Meanwhile, “Star Trek” is enjoying its strongest presence on television ever, with five “Trek” series underway — “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Star Trek: Picard,” “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” “Star Trek: Prodigy” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” — all in various stages of production for Paramount+. The final entry, “Strange New Worlds”, even takes place around the same time period as the Pine and Quinto films, albeit in a completely separate timeline.
