Every upcoming Star Trek show and movie, ranked by anticipation

4. Star Trek IV

If you want to talk about the next Star Trek movie, the first question you have to ask is, “which one?”

Since Star Trek: Beyond all the way back in 2016, the Star Trek landscape has been completely transformed, as has the movie business itself. COVID-19 has inspired many studios to release movies straight to streaming platforms, with theater-going audiences not yet returned to anywhere near their pre-pandemic peaks. All this affected the production of Star Trek movies, with a fourth film to follow Beyond seemingly stuck in development hell for several years.

While Beyond’s $343.5 million box office take was respectable, it was dwarfed by its two “Abramsverse” forebears, and there’s been a feeling that the franchise needed a change. Planning for Star Trek IV began right after Beyond, with Chris Pine (Captain Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Spock) already signed on and Paramount announcing the return of Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk.

Then Quentin Tarantino got involved.

Paramount could never ignore a pitch from a prestigious director like Tarantino, who reportedly wanted to make his own R-rated Star Trek movie based on the Original Series episode “A Piece of the Action.” The idea was controversial from the start, with many worried that the director would be unable to adapt himself to the necessities of Star Trek. Writer Mark L. Smith was attached to pen the script for Tarantino’s movie, and soon enough there were two Star Trek films in production.

The road soon grew bumpier, with Pine and Hemsworth quitting their Trek project after refusing pay cuts and Tarantino’s proposal stalling. Noah Hawley was working on a project in 2019, but it was dead by 2020. Next it was Discovery writer Kalinda Vazquez’s turn to be attached to a new Star Trek movie, announced in March 2021 and then seemingly sidelined when Paramount confirmed in July that Star Trek IV was going ahead with a different creative team.

Despite behind-the-scenes chaos and indecision on Paramount’s part, a new Star Trek movie is always an event; some of the most memorable moments in the entire franchise happened on the big screen. While J.J. Abrams’ take on Star Trek has been divisive amongst fans, there are certainly many who would enjoy further adventures for the alternative universe Kirk and Spock.

While very little is currently known about the plot of the fourth movie, WandaVision director Matt Shakman is confirmed to be at the helm, with Lindsey Beer (The Magic Order) and Captain Marvel screenwriter Geneva Robertson-Dworet writing the script. And it’s finally been confirmed that Pine, Quinto and the rest of the cast will return!