New Star Trek film confirmed with Kelvin Timeline future all but decided
After years of development hell, false starts, and a franchise-wide television wind-down that had fans genuinely worried, Paramount has finally made it official that Star Trek is returning to the big screen. The studio confirmed the news during its CinemaCon presentation in Las Vegas and while the announcement was brief on specifics, the signal it sends is loud and clear.Crucially, the new film will be completely disconnected from any previous continuity and probably feature no familiar faces. A brand new cast, a brand new story, a brand new entry point for audiences. Paramount's pitch for Goldstein and Daley's project has reportedly been described internally as "a completely new take on the Star Trek universe." No release date has been set and plot details remain under wraps.The new film will reportedly be written, directed and produced by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the duo behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Spider-Man: Homecoming. That's a resume worth taking seriously as both films hold north of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Honor Among Thieves in particular was widely praised for managing to be genuinely fun genre entertainment that also respected its source material. Both are qualities Trek could use right now.Chris Pine plays Kirk in Star Trek Beyond from Paramount Pictures, Skydance, Bad Robot, Sneaky Shark and Perfect Storm Entertainment | Image: ParamounKelvin Timeline hopes effectively quashedThis effectively ends any remaining hope for a fourth Kelvin Timeline film. Star Trek Beyond came out in 2016, and the saga of Star Trek 4 which cycled through Quentin Tarantino, S.J. Clarkson, Noah Hawley and Matt Shakman before being officially shelved in November 2024, has been one of Hollywood's most prolonged development disasters.Chris Pine, who played the alternate-universe Kirk, previously summed up his feelings on the whole situation with characteristic brevity when asked whether he had any advice about the franchise for the new Paramount leadership in January: "Have fun, good luck, live long and prosper."Paramount's new management, post-Skydance merger, has moved quickly to wind down the franchise's television presence. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was cancelled after its first season despite already having a second season filmed. Strange New Worlds will end after its fifth season. As of right now, no new Star Trek series is in active development or production, which is a situation that feels strange for the franchise's 60th anniversary year.Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker in "Imposters" Episode 305, Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+. | Photo Credit: Trae Patton/ Paramount+. ©2021 Viacom, International Inc. All Rights Reserved.Jonathan Frakes weighed in on current (or lack of) Star Trek projectsJonathan Frakes, who has directed Star Trek episodes across seven different series and helmed the films First Contact and Insurrection in addition to playing William Riker in the franchise, didn't mince words about the irony when speaking on TrekMovie's All Access: Star Trek podcast:"I think, sadly, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of our incredible franchise, it seemed very unfortunate that they've chosen this moment to not have any new Trek in production. It seems like a very unfortunate irony. I'm sure that Trek will resurface, it always has, and it always will. And the power that Roddenberry invested in it seems to have made it through six decades."Frakes also addressed the cancellation of Starfleet Academy specifically, noting that the show had been targeted by an online hate campaign from people who hadn't actually watched it, something executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau were "well aware of." He quoted them as describing the project as being "on ice" rather than fully dead, though the distinction may be academic at this point.His bigger-picture take was more cautious: "All I've got is rumor and innuendo, and none of it is encouraging. But in truth, there will be a Star Trek on the air through 2027. That gives us a lot of time to get something else in the oven, if you will."L-R: Kerrice Brooks as SAM, Romeo Carere as Ocam, and Karim Diané as Jay-Den in season 1, episode 5, of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streaming on Paramount+. | Photo Credit: Brooke Palmer/Paramount+What this means for TrekkiesThe announcement at CinemaCon is a meaningful one, even if it came without a title or a logline. Getting the project verbally confirmed on a major industry stage alongside another Top Gun sequel and Paramount's other flagship properties signals that this is a genuine priority for the studio.The Kelvin Timeline films, while profitable, never quite recaptured the cultural moment of J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot. Fifteen years later, a genuinely fresh start untethered from decades of lore obligations, might actually be the smarter play. The Dungeons & Dragons comparison is apt, as that film walked into a franchise with a famously difficult fanbase, chose accessibility over gatekeeping and won people over.Whether Goldstein and Daley's Trek can do the same depends entirely on what story they choose to tell. And right now, nobody outside of a few Paramount conference rooms knows the answer to that.We'll be watching for updates as they come. Live long and prosper.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
