Star Trek 4 may be on hold, but Jean-Luc Picard series is moving forward
By Corey Smith
Yesterday, HBO announced that S.J. Clarkson would direct the pilot for its Game of Thrones prequel pilot, a plum gig if there ever was one. However, this could be bad news for Star Trek fans, since Clarkson was previously announced as the director for Star Trek 4. With her departure, is the project dead?
It’s a little more complicated than that. Star Trek 4 has been experiencing problems for a while. The film was set to be headlined by Chris Pine (Captain Kirk) and Chris Hemsworth (Captain Kirk’s dad), but the pair balked after Paramount requested to trim their salaries. Apparently those contract disputes were never worked out, and Deadline reports that HBO only recruited Clarkson for the Game of Thrones prequel after Star Trek 4 was “shelved.”
While that’s disheartening for those hoping to see what alternate timeline shenanigans Kirk and his dad could have gotten up to, it’s not all bad news for Star Trek fans. The Hollywood Reporter brings us details about an upcoming CBS All Access series detailing the further adventures of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), the character at the center of Star Trek: The Next Generation. “Picard’s life was radically altered by the dissolution of the Romulan Empire,” says longtime Star Trek scribe Alex Kurtzman, a producer on the new show. Given Picard’s long and interesting relationship with the Romulan Empire, I’d be shocked if his life stayed the same.
Personally, I’d love to see Picard explore the galaxy without the help of the Federation, going on all manner of adventures. That kinda-sorta sounds like the direction Kurtzman is taking, thanks in part to Stewart’s demands. “He (Stewart) threw down an amazing gauntlet and said, ‘If we do this, I want it to be so different, I want it to be both what people remember but also not what they’re expecting at all, otherwise why do it?'”
And what of the possibility of Picard’s Next Generation crew members showing up for a cameo or two? “Anything could happen,” Kurtzman demurred. If Will Riker doesn’t show up at some point, I’m going full Wrath of Khan on someone.
And there’s more! According to a different Hollywood Reporter piece, Kurtzman is also looking into multiple Star Trek animated series. We already know of one such series, Lower Decks, coming to CBS All Access. That show, headed by Rick and Morty writer Mike McMahan, will follow the support staff on one of Starfleet’s “least important ships.” Expect some comedy there.
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But Kurtzman wants at least one more animated series. He’s looking to appeal more to young children, and sees animation as a way to do that. “Each show has to have its own identity,” he said.
"There’s other animated things that we’re building that are an entirely different perspective and an entirely different tone [from Lower Decks]. What’s exciting about it is not only looking at each animated series as what’s the different tone, but what’s the different technology we can apply to these things so that visually they’re entirely different?"
One of these animated shows may even air somewhere other than CBS All Access. Kurtzman is looking to blow up Star Trek in a big way. And this is all on top of Star Trek: Discovery, which kicks off its second season on January 17.
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