X-Men Writer Will Forge New Star Trek Franchise Beginning With Creation of Starfleet Prequel

Summary

Simon Kinberg to launch new
Star Trek
franchise with a prequel exploring Starfleet’s creation and first contact with aliens.
Toby Haynes to direct the prequel, set decades before the 2009 reboot.
Uncertainty surrounds
Star Trek 4
, with various script changes and writers, but Roddenberry Entertainment COO hints at a new movie soon.

Writer and producer Simon Kinberg, who is best known for writing and producing many of the X-Men movies, will forge a new Star Trek franchise for Paramount Pictures. As per a report by THR, Kinberg is now in talks to produce the next outing in the iconic Star Trek series and, if all goes well, he will take a lead role in carving out the rest of the franchise going forward.

Kinberg, who has both written and produced the likes of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Fantastic Four, and X-Men: Apocalypse, as well as just producing X-Men: First Class, The Martian, Deadpool, and more, will begin his new Star Trek franchise with a prequel exploring the “the creation of the Starfleet and humankind’s first contact with alien life.”

The prequel is already in active development, with Andor director Toby Haynes on board to direct the movie from a script written by Seth Grahame-Smith. The project will reportedly be set decades before J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot and is likely set “around modern times.” Abrams is also on board as a producer.

Will We Ever See Star Trek 4?

The news that Simon Kinberg will take charge of the Star Trek franchise and kick things off with an origin movie does not necessarily mean that we won’t see Star Trek 4 happen. Star Trek was rebooted for the big screen by J.J. Abrams back in 2009, with the new “Kelvin timeline” introducing younger versions of the iconic characters James T. Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew at the beginning of their Star Fleet careers.

Led by Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldaña, and Karl Urban, the reboot has since seen two sequels emerge, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond, with a fourth movie having been in development ever since the third movie’s release in 2016.

Zoe Saldaña Is Eager to Return for Star Trek 4: ‘I Still Have Hope’

Star Trek star Zoe Saldaña still has hope that the ‘Kelvin Timeline’ will be brought back for one last time.

Star Trek 4 has now gone through several different iterations and ideas, with different scripts with very different storylines having been written. One such idea would have brought Chris Hemsworth back as Kirk’s father, George, using time travel, while another saw Fargo writer Noah Hawley coming very close to launching his own vision for the franchise.

At present, it is unknown exactly what is happening with Star Trek 4, with Chris Pine being left “confused” over the recent change of writer as Dead Boy Detectives and The Flight Attendant’s Steve Yockey is now on board.

“I honestly don’t know. There was something in the news of a new writer coming on board. I thought there was already a script, but I guess I was wrong, or they decided to pivot. As it’s always been with “Trek,” I just wait and see.”

Thankfully, there has been some positivity from Roddenberry Entertainment COO Trevor Roth regarding Star Trek 4, who recently revealed that there is “a plan” and that there is now “every intent of a new movie coming out in the very near future.”