Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, And Zachary Quinto To Return For Fourth ‘Star Trek’ Film

Star Trek stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Simon Pegg are returning for the fourth film in the sci-fi franchise. J.J. Abrams made the announcement during the Paramount Investors Day Presentation on Feb. 15, reports Variety. “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 our original cast and some new characters that I think are going to be really fun and exciting and help take Star Trek into areas that you’ve just never seen before,” Abrams said. “We’re thrilled about this film, we have a bunch of other stories that we’re talking about that we think will be really exciting, so can’t wait for you to see what we’re cooking up. But until then, live long and prosper.”

The studio is yet to enter negotiations with the cast that includes Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, John Cho as Sulu, Karl Urban as Bones, and Simon Pegg as Scotty. The actors first appeared in 2009's Star Trek directed by Abrams and later returned in two sequels, 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, also directed by Abrams, and 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, directed by Justin Lin. Sadly Anton Yelchin, who featured as Chekhov in Abrams' previous three movies, died in 2016 before the third film in the franchise, Star Trek Beyond, hit theaters.

Abrams is producing the currently untitled film through Bad Robot, with Matt Shakman (WandaVision). As per EW, the upcoming film will feature a screenplay by Josh Friedman (Avatar 2) and Cameron Squires (WandaVision) based on an earlier draft by Lindsey Beer (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel). A late 2022 shooting start points to a potential late 2023 arrival. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is due out on Dec. 22, 2023. 

The studio has been trying to get the cast together since at least 2018, when negotiations with Pine and Chris Hemsworth, who had a small role in Abrams’ 2009 film, fell through. Back in 2018, S.J. Clarkson (Jessica Jones) was on board to direct a sequel that would have reunited Pine’s Kirk with his late father, played by Chris Hemsworth reprising his role from the 2009 film. This never did materialize as Paramount reportedly couldn’t close a deal with Pine and Hemsworth. But it looks like Star Trek fans now have something to look forward to.