J.J. Abrams' Kelvin Timeline movies have been unaddressed since 2016's Star Trek Beyond, and despite various plans to try and add to the series in the years since, it's now been confirmed that the project has been scrapped. In an update by Variety on the current state of Paramount after an extensive restructure, the studio has "moved on from the idea of bringing back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the rest of the ensemble from the J.J. Abrams reboot."
The Abrams Star Trek trilogy began in 2009 with an incredibly soft and creative reboot of the franchise. While it initially felt like Abrams was completely reinventing Star Trek for modern audiences, he was quietly adding a new reality to the saga's multiverse. He was also, of course, reinventing Star Trek for modern audiences.
The series saw Chris Pine take over the role of James T. Kirk, a casting decision that has since been mirrored by Paul Wesley inheriting the role of Kirk Prime in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. However, after just three movies in sixteen years, Pine's Kirk and the Kelvin Timeline's version of the USS Enterprise crew are unlikely to get any more screen time.
The Star Trek 4 news is disappointing, but not all that surprising
The Star Trek franchise was in an unusual position when the first Kelvin Timeline movie was released in 2009. There hadn't been an active show within the saga since Star Trek: Enterprise concluded in 2005. There also wouldn't be another one until Star Trek: Discovery debuted in 2017 — after the most recent Kelvin Timeline effort. So, Abrams' movies were keeping the franchise alive, albeit in an unconventional way.
Since the last movie to star Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Star Trek has had a renaissance of epic proportions. It feels like new Star Trek shows are being announced every week, and the franchise is back to being as prominent as it was during its heyday, if not more so. The return to the Prime Universe in such an impressive way means the Kelvin Timeline has basically become surplus to requirements.
It was really cool seeing a fresh take on an era first witnessed in Star Trek: The Original Series, but the franchise's primary reality will always have the biggest appeal. Plus, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds scratches a very similar itch, if not even more similar due to the lack of canonical divergence as in the Kelvin Timeline trilogy. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to Star Trek 4 before the news of its being scrapped. I'm sure I'm not the only one, either.
Paramount isn't done with Star Trek movies, but they may not be set in the Kelvin Timeline
The same Variety piece that confirms the axing of Star Trek 4 also offers some hope for Trekkies desperate to see the franchise's return to the big screen. After the recent straight-to-streaming disaster that was 2025's Star Trek: Section 31, the franchise is overdue for a cinematic triumph. Thankfully, there seems to be at least a vague plan for a "fresh" Star Trek movie to be put into production at Paramount.
It's unclear at the moment whether the prospective project will tie in to one of the active Star Trek shows, whether it'll be an original premise with new characters, or it'll revolve around another recast set of characters from a later point in the Kelvin Timeline. Any thought of another feature-length Star Trek adventure is exciting, and it won't have to try all that hard to top the most recent movie within the saga.