Exclusive: Kate Herron, Loki Director, In Talks For Star Trek Project
Our sources have let us know Kate Herron, the acclaimed director of Loki and Sex Education, may soon be directing a Star Trek show or film.
The woman who brought us Disney+’s Loki may soon deliver stories from the United Federation of Planets. Thanks to our trusted and proven sources, we can report that Kate Herron is in talks to helm an upcoming Star Trek project. We don’t yet know the nature of the project, but we have some pretty good guesses.
For one, we recently learned Paramount is developing a horror series set in the Trek universe inspired by the Alien films. While Kate Herron’s time on Loki wasn’t particularly horror-centric, there are plenty of signs it’s a genre she would love to help Star Trek tackle. One of the last projects she worked on was the horror anthology comic Skybound Presents: Afterschool with her writing partner Briony Redman.
Her directorial experience in the genre may not yet be extensive, but she did direct an episode of the post-apocalyptic black comedy Daybreak. Judging by Kate Herron’s Instagram account, she’s clearly a horror fan, so the prospect of making a Star Trek horror show could very well be a dream project. Along with using it to help promote Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies, Herron’s Insta has a surprising number of posts featuring a doll of one of the eponymous creatures from Gremlins, including in one of her pinned posts.
There is also the potential return of Kate Mulgrew to the role of Kathryn Janeway in a Star Trek: Picard-like revival series. Practically all year the Orange Is the New Black star has been teasing such a project, with her former co-stars like Robert Picardo chiming in with their support. With both a female lead and the franchise’s heightened prioritization toward hiring female directors, a woman director would be a no-brainer for a Janeway series and who better than an acclaimed creator like Kate Herron to make Star Trek: Janeway?
Then there is the still delayed Star Trek 4. Only a few months ago we reported the word from our sources that Paramount was looking for a woman to helm the fourth of the Kelvin Timeline films, and in particular were trying to recruit Cate Shortland who directed 2021’s Black Widow. Could Kate Herron now be at the front of the list to direct Star Trek 4?
Actually, it could be a search for a director like Kate Herron to helm Star Trek 4 that stalled the film. Zoe Saldana recently said she believed that scheduling conflicts were largely to blame, but also that there was “something else to do with the project” which she didn’t specify.
Regardless of what project she’s in contention for, Kate Herron would be a welcome addition to Star Trek. Particularly when it comes to Loki, she’s clearly proven she’s got the whole time travel and alternate timelines thing down.
