According to Variety, Paramount Pictures has officially removed Bad Robot’s long-in-development fourth Star Trek film from next year’s theatrical release schedule. Originally set to make its debut on December 22, 2023, this marks the latest production setback to the project following Emmy-nominated director Matt Shakman’s exit last month.
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Earlier this year during Paramount’s Investors Day Presentation, producer J.J. Abrams confirmed that Star Trek 4 is indeed in active development with the original cast all set to make their return including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Simon Pegg. In his announcement, Abrams also revealed that they’re planning to shoot the film “by the end of the year.” However, it looks like that would be unlikely now, given the recent setbacks.
Before Shakman’s exit, he was originally attached to direct the film from a screenplay written by Josh Friedman (Avatar 2) and Cameron Squires (WandaVision) based on an earlier draft by Lindsey Beer (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser) and Geneva Roberston-Dworet (Captain Marvel).
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It’s been quite some time in between Star Trek films, with the last film, Star Trek Beyond, releasing in 2016. Since then, Paramount has been doing market research into potential audience interest for another Star Trek film and determined that fans still cared enough about the cast for another movie to be made with them.
