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As the Star Trek universe continues to expand with various spin-off series and installments, new details have emerged about the scrapped Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth sequel to Star Trek: Beyond. Debuting in 2009 under the direction of J.J. Abrams, Star Trek was the first in a string of highly successful and critically acclaimed films, followed by its sequel, Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek: Beyond (2016). Starring Pine as Captain James T. Kirk, known as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty, and John Cho Hikaru Sulu, Star Trek follows the starship USS Enterprise as it faces off against the villainous Romulan Nero (Eric Bana) to save all mankind as he threatens to destroy humanity.
Star Trek also introduces audiences to Hemsworth's George Kirk, father to Captain Kirk. At the time, Hemsworth had only acted in a few smaller parts prior to landing his breakout role as Marvel Cinematic Universe hero Thor. Although Hemsworth's appearance in Star Trek was brief, and he did not appear in either Star Trek: Into Darkness or Star Trek: Beyond, this has not stopped fans from speculating on his possible return to the franchise, as Star Trek 4 is confirmed to be in development. Originally scrapped due to Beyond's poor performance at the box office, Pine and the rest of the cast are reportedly on board for the next installment in the series, although that has been brought into question as of late.
Now, Star Trek writers Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne reveal details about their scrapped script for Star Trek 4, per Variety. McKay and Payne reveal their Star Trek 4 would have reunited Pine and Hemsworth, as George Kirk gets stuck in a transporter that absorbs his "pattern," allowing him to be saved in a computer system later to be beamed out by his son, Captain Kirk. Check out McKay and Payne's ideas for Star Trek 4 below:
I would love to tell you about it...We worked on a couple of Star Trek movies. The one you’re asking about would have been the fourth in the franchise, reuniting Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pine. The conceit was that through a cosmic quirk in the Star Trek world, they were the same age. It was going to be a grand father-son space adventure—think Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in space. We were really thrilled about it.
Could The Star Trek: Beyond Scrapped Sequel Still Happen?
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While Star Trek 4 is slated to bring back Pine as Kirk and much of the Kelvin timeline cast, it is currently sitting in development hell at Paramount, with a revolving door of creatives entering and departing the project before any progress can be made. Its future looked promising when Game of Thrones and WandaVision director Matt Shakman signed on. However, he has since left the project to direct Fantastic Four. Scripts from Quentin Tarantino and Noah Hawley also failed to work. Now, Star Trek 4's future is up in the air, as there is no working script, director, or release date in sight.
If Star Trek 4 wants to succeed, it's clear there needs to be more creatives behind the project, or it's at risk of losing its biggest stars, including Pine, Quinto, Saldana, and Cho. However, both Pine and Hemsworth have made their dedication to the series clear, with Hemsworth admitting he would love to reprise his role as George Kirk alongside Pine. It's apparent that the stars are on board, and McKay and Payne's vision would have satisfied both parties involved. While it's possible for their version of Star Trek 4 to happen, it seems unlikely, as both are serving as showrunners for Amazon's Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power. Perhaps, now their ideas are out in the open, inspiration will be drawn, Paramount can land a script just as interesting as theirs, and Star Trek 4 will finally happen.
Source: Variety