Most of the Star Trek cast had no idea another movie was coming

The other week, Paramount announced a bunch of new shows and movies on the way, hoping to get investors excited about its prospects. Among them was a sequel to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, the third installment of the Star Trek revival movies headed up by J.J. Abrams. Abrams himself was on hand for the announcement. “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,” he said.

There was only one issue: according to The Hollywood Reporter, most of that “original cast” — which included Chris Pine (Captain Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock) and Zoe Saldaña (Uhura) — didn’t know that a new movie was in the works, much less that they’d be shooting it by the end of the year.

Per THR, the script for the film is still being worked on and there’s no budget in place. And now, since Paramount announced the movie before getting some or even all of the stars on board, it puts the actors in a very good negotiating position.

So why would Paramount say that the film was in the works before it had contracts in place? According to THR, it was to make a good impression on investors. Incidentally, Paramount stock tumbled by 20% after the presentation, so they failed to impress investors and they have to give the actors whatever they want. Good luck.

Star Trek: Picard boss open to doing a fourth season

Meanwhile, in the realm of Star Trek things we know for sure are happening, the second season of Star Trek: Picard premieres on the Paramount+ streaming service on March 3. The new season will see Picard and crew travel to an alternate dimension and then into the past. It’s one of the better-received new Trek shows that Paramount has on the air, and it has a lot of them.

Star Trek: Picard has one more season planned after this next one. Is it possible it could return for a fourth?

“The door is always open for a season four,” showrunner Akiva Goldsman recently told SFX Magazine. “[B]ut as of now, it is just three seasons. It was always planned to be three seasons… If some combination of CBS and Patrick [Stewart] and the world all said, ‘season four’ I’m sure we would engage it, dare I say? But no, currently it remains a three-season object.”

Even if Picard doesn’t go beyond three seasons, Paramount has a lot more Trek in the hopper:

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h/t TrekMovie.com