Here’s a story we didn’t see coming. Overnight sources at Deadline, Variety and THR have confirmed that Paramount Pictures is currently developing two films in the Star Trek universe.
A brand new film, reported to be “an origin story set decades before” the 2009 Trek film which launched the Kelvin timeline, has found itself in active development. The script for the untitled film has been written by Seth Grahame-Smith, the novelist turned screenwriter responsible for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Not only that but this new property has found a director in Andor‘s Toby Haynes.
The reports note that despite there not having been a big screen outing for the Trek franchise since 2016 the brand remains strong thanks to the five series streaming on Paramount+ and Netflix. The great news is that the long-awaited Star Trek 4 is also still in development with the trades noting the film is planned as a final chapter for the cast first, including Chris Pine, introduced in 2009.
Pine has so far headlined three Star Trek films in the role of James T. Kirk. 2009’s Star Trek, 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016’s Star Trek Beyond. Each of those films co-starred Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho and the late Anton Yelchin.
