#Star Trek 4 News Surprised Its Own Cast Members

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“#Star Trek 4 News Surprised Its Own Cast Members”

Chris Pine and the Star Trek cast were just as surprised as the fans by the announcement that the next movie is a go.

Star Trek Into Darkness — Paramount Pictures

Earlier this month, it was announced that Star Trek 4 is officially moving forward with Chris Pine and the original cast members returning. The announcement came straight from producer J. J. Abrams druing the Paramount investor day, revealing that the sequel was finally moving forward after years of stalling. Abrams noted, “We are thrilled to say that we are hard at work on a new Star Trek film that will be shooting by the end of the year that will be featuring the original cast.

While actors are usually privy to their involvement in certain films before they get official announcements, the Star Trek sequel news reportedly surprised Pine and the other cast members. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actors and their reps were surprised by the news, though that’s not to say they aren’t interested in returning. Per the report, Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, and John Cho were all blindsided by the announcement. As of now, Pine is said to have started early negotiations as he’s the “lynchpin” to the project.

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Word is Star Trek 4 will start filming in the fall with plans to get the movie released by Dec. 22, 2023. Whether that happens will depend on how smoothly production goes from this point moving forward. The screenplay is being worked on at the moment with no budget yet in place, pending talent negotiations. This sequel also keeps the Star Trek franchise going alongside the Paramount+ shows Picard and Discovery, as well as the animated shows Lower Decks and Prodigy.

Related: Star Trek’s Chief O’Brien Actor Colm Meaney Would Return for a Worf Series

It’s Been a Long Road to Get Star Trek 4 Made

Some fans may not be holding their breath on this one given the false starts for Star Trek 4 that have happened in the past. At one point in 2018, there were plans to make the sequel with Chris Hemsworth coming on board to play the father of Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk. Talk fizzled when money got involved, eventually killing the project as it was and sending Star Trek 4 back to the drawing board. J. J. Abrams and Paramount must be happier with the new plan that’s in place for the sequel.

Quentin Tarantino has teased doing a Star Trek movie and there were tentative plans for him to do just that, but that seems to have also fallen by the wayside. Noah Hawley was brought in at another point to do a Star Trek movie following different crews and timelines, but that project ended up getting scrapped as well. Perhaps Star Trek 4 will fare better this time, but if some fans have some trouble believing that, they can’t really be faulted for it.

WandaVision director Matt Shakman is on board to direct Star Trek 4. Despite Abrams’ announcement about the original cast, they also have yet to sign on. Sadly, franchise star Anton Yelchin won’t be in the movie as Pavel Chekov, as the actor died in 2016 at the age of 27.