Star Trek 4 Gets News From Zachary Quinto And Fans Are Devastated
Zachary Quinto gave fans a Star Trek 4 update at the 57-Year Mission Convention in Las Vegas earlier this month. When asked if the popularity of the sci-fi franchise on streaming platforms was the reason for the movie being plagued by delays, the actor provided a diplomatic answer. “I don’t think that has anything to do with it,” he said via TrekMovie.
“I think it’s about different people having different agendas and ideas about what it will be. And I don’t know if and when it will happen. And if it coalesces again and we come back, and we’re able to do it, wonderful. If not, we had a great run.”
Zachary Quinto on Star Trek 4
“I think the more there is, the more it gets people excited about what could be,” Quinto continued. He then explained why he thinks Star Trek 4 has been struggling to get off the ground. “I think there’s a lot of other stuff, creative things. It’s complicated. The fact that anything good gets made is kind of miracle.”
“I think it’s about different people having different agendas and ideas about what it will be. And I don’t know if and when it will happen. And if it coalesces again and we come back, and we’re able to do it, wonderful. If not, we had a great run,” Quinto added about Star Trek 4.
Sadly, Star Trek 4 has been having a difficult time finding its feet since early 2022 when producer J.J. Abrams and Paramount announced that the project would be released in 2023. While the cast was happy to return, some were concerned about scheduling. However, Zoe Saldana said she felt the delays resulted from other problems.
Chris Pine also seemed apprehensive about Star Trek 4, saying he was concerned that Paramount was trying to create a billion-dollar box office hit. “I’ve always thought that Star Trek should operate in the zone that is smaller,” the actor said in a 2022 interview. You know, it’s not a Marvel appeal.
Star Trek 4 Still Needs A Director
The most recent update from Abrams came in March 2023. Speaking to Esquire Magazine, he said the story they had for Star Trek 4 was as interesting as the first one. But Paramount and Abrams still haven’t found a new director for the movie. Matt Shakman was previously tapped to helm the film, but Marvel Studios snapped him up to direct its Fantastic Four reboot.
Star Trek 4 has been in development since 2015 and has gone through several different creative teams. Shakman, Quentin Tarantino, S.J. Clarkson, and Noah Hawley were all attached to write and/or direct at various points. The film was removed from the Paramount release slate in late 2022, and there have been no updates since then.
Currently, just one Star Trek movie called Section 31 is in the works, unrelated to Star Trek 4. The project, which will only be available on Paramount+, was supposed to be a series connected to Star Trek: Discovery. But in 2023, the studio decided it would do better as a film. Michelle Yeoh will portray her Discovery character, Emperor Philippa Georgiou, in the movie.
Emperor Philippa Georgiou will be part of Section 31, a secret operations group within Starfleet. Section 31 will be directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi from a script by Craig Sweeny. The movie is expected to launch the second phase of Paramount’s modern Star Trek television franchise, which began in 2017 with Star Trek: Discovery.
Currently, just one Star Trek movie called Section 31 is in the works, unrelated to Star Trek 4.
Yeoh made her Star Trek debut as Captain Philippa Georgiou in the opening episode of Discovery. Even though Captain Georgiou was written off quite early in the series, Yeoh came back to portray a different version of her from the Mirror Universe in the second part of season one in 2018. Yeoh kept playing the alternate version of Georgiou on Discovery until the end of season three in 2020.
While the status of Star Trek 4 remains uncertain, fans have still been able to enjoy the franchise’s space adventures in shows like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. These shows take place in the same timeline as the original series and have brought in younger versions of characters like Spock, James T. Kirk, Nyota Uhura, Christopher Pike, and Scotty.
