Bruce Greenwood Joins Star Trek Sequel Production Start Guessing Game – But Will Pike Be In It?

We know the Star Trek sequel will released June 29, 2012, but Paramount has not announced a production schedule (or even a director). Scripting on the film has yet to start in earnest, but over the last few weeks actors from the first film have been dropping guesses for the production start. The latest to weigh in is the new Pike, Bruce Greenwood. Details below, plus TrekMovie asks the question: Should Pike be in the sequel?

 

Greenwood guesses shooting to start January 2011

Bruce Greenwood is one of the stars of the Steve Carell comedy Dinner for Schmucks, due out this Summer. JoBlo.com has just published a set visit report about the film, which includes this big from Greenwood on the Star Trek sequel:

Bruce was most assuredly asked about the next Star Trek, which he gave us this, ‘Yes there will be [a new Star Trek] and I gather January 2011 is when they’re gonna roll the cameras. That’s the last rumor I heard, but use me as a source at your own peril because I don’t really know.’

It should be noted that even though the set visit report was just released, it was conducted months ago. Dinner for Schmucks is currently in post-production, but set visit reports were just released from press embargo to coincide with the release of the trailer for the film (see below). In the last few weeks Simon Pegg guessed filming would start in by the end of 2010 and more recently Zoe Saldana suggested filming would start in early 2011. TrekMovie sources continue to indicate filming will most likely start around the Spring or early Summer of 2011, but nothing has yet be set in stone and the actors have not yet been asked to set the time aside. So Greenwood’s guess could be accurate, but as he noted, shouldn’t be taken as set in stone.


Greenwood guesses January 2011 as Star Trek sequel shooting start

Pike in sequel?

As the script has not yet been written, there is no guarantee that Greenwood will be in the sequel, although in one interview last year he told TrekMovie that he was "encouraged to think Pike would be returning". In the 2009 Star Trek film, Greenwood’s Pike played a pivotal role as a mentor to the young Kirk, and at the end of the film (in a wheelchair) he handed command of the USS Enterprise off to Kirk. At the Star Trek DVD party, Greenwood told TrekMovie that he would like to see Pike "on site" on the USS Enterprise (and not in the wheelchair). See it in the video below (Greenwood is last actor in the series).

POLL: So what do you think? Does the Star Trek sequel need more Pike?

The question of whether or not to include Greenwood’s Pike in the sequel is different than the question of including Leonard Nimoy’s Spock Prime. Although both played father-figure type roles in the first film, Greenwood’s Pike is still a member of Starfleet, and Admiral roles are often seen in Trek feature films (someone has to give Kirk his orders). Also, unlike Nimoy, Greenwood seems much more eager to suit back up (although less eager to get back into that chair).

So what do you think. Should Pike be in the sequel, and should they keep him in the chair?

[poll=563]


Admiral Pike, last seen in a wheelchair, an homage to the TOS episode "The Menagerie"
 

Greenwood in Dinner for Schmucks

One Paramount production Greenwood definitely is in, is the comedy Dinner for Schmucks, starring Paul Rudd and Steven Carell. Pike plays the boss of a company that has a strange dinner tradition. The film comes out July 23rd, 2010. Check out the new trailer, which was just released yesterday.

 

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I loved Pike in this movie and I’d really like to see him in the next, and even the one after that. Every Trek seems to have their “Admiral.” TNG had Nechayev, DS9 had Ross, Voyager had Paris, and Enterprise had Forrest. I think it’s only fair that Pike should be NuTrek’s.

I don’t theirs any doubt whether Pike will return in the Trek Sequel. Its a absolute guarantee.

doubt*

FIRST, why does Pike have to be in a wheelchair? Afterall, this is a re-boot :) Second, … well, never mind. Back to STO.

Young James T still needs a bit of adult supervision, and Admiral Pike might be the one to give it to him. Plus, it might be fun to see the Admiral vs. Young Captain played with Kirk being the outraged one shoehorned from the center seat by an ambitious (or cautious) admiral. (Ring any bells, y’all?)

@jas_montreal actually it’s not a gaurantee he’ll be in a sequel. I’m mean Kirk is in Command Of The Enterprise already in this new universe.Unless Pike for some reason takes the Enterprise back in the sequel, there’s really no reason for him to be in a sequel. Unless Pike goes insane, and becomes a bad guy. Which I have to say would be kinda cool! Yes it’s true that Pike could show up and be the Admiral that sends the Enterprise to where ever she need to go, story wise. But there is no Gaurantee Pike will be in any sequel. I mean it’s not like the fate of The Franchise depends on whether or not Pike will be in any of the sequels

I vote YES on Pike. More Pike is good for those of us who spent years wondering what it would have been like if he hadn’t had the accident.

Ya know why all these actors are commenting on the start of production…..because it started in secret months ago!!! The sequel will be all CGI’ed, and they are going to crank these out, one after another, all based on fan fiction stories!!!

This is how rumors start, you know…

And let’s be honest — Jeffrey Hunter MIGHT be alive today…had he chosen to continue to play Captain Pike….

I like him to be in the movie without the wheelchair, but not in an important role ON the Enterprise. He should stay on Earth!

NuKirk: “You, personally, are taking command?”

NuPike: “Yeah. I’m sorry, Jim.”

NuKirk: “No, Admrial, I don’t think you’re sorry. Not one damn bit.”

Hahahahaha…. I can just imagine that actually being in Trek XII. Then again, if it was, it would have to be well written. Which isn’t gonna happen, I reckon.

I am definitely in support of more Pike in the next film. Greenwood is a great actor!

@Maltz, I concur!!

Be careful what you wish for. A sequel almost demands a death. Pike would be an easy one to bump off. Slightly better than killing hundreds of crewmen while only showing one bridge. Just sayin’…

Oh, and a GOOD version of The Ultimate Computer vs. The Doomsday Machine would make a frakkin’ killer movie.

More Pike I say, more Pike. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

i seemed to recall that Kirk was only promoted as Pike’s “relief”. maybe i’m wrong but that sounds like a temporary assignment and not like a “promotion”.

i could be wrong?

Give Pike a Glorious Death sequence and bring in Robert April!!

MORE PIKE MORE PIKE MORE PIKE MORE PIKE!!!!! NO WHEELCHAIR!!! LOL…Bruce Greenwood made a better Pike than Jeff Hunter did!!!

Pike’ll be on the Starfleet council with Admiral Tyler Perry, count on it.

WE WANT PIKE!

Bruce Greenwood became Pike – which
is exactly what a seasoned, talented actor
does. I would love to see the character in
the sequel but not overshadow the Kirk,
Spock, McCoy relationship.

Is it just me or does Zoe Salanda look horribly skinny, she is a far cry for the curvy Uhora in that and other recent Photos

More Pike? Yes please! Issues of patriotism aside (Canadian content FTW!), he was wonderful as Pike.

But PLEASE, no Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome.

#16 By “relieved” it means Pike was relieved of that post and Kirk was his replacement. It’s not a temporary thing.

I want Pike back without the chair. Greenwood is an excellent actor.

My vote is a yes for the return of Pike (Greenwood), he did “make” that role his. Now the question is, in what story arc. Since this is an alternate reality, have Kirk end up in the beeping wheelchair due to some catastrophic accident (of course to be cured by McCoy at some point) and Pike back in some sort of very brief command role. lol

At the very minimum, I think Pike should appear On Screen via Subspace to issue some orders. Pike should be the admiral that Kirk reports to. If a good story involves him, without distracting from the Kirk-centric crew, then that’s cool with me.

#9: “And let’s be honest — Jeffrey Hunter MIGHT be alive today…had he chosen to continue to play Captain Pike….”

LOL and why pray tell would that have changed his fate? Wishful thinking aside, Hunter was a great Captain Pike (better than Greenwood, IMHO), but I sincerely doubt ‘Star Trek’ would have caught on if he had continued the role… or if he had, the series would have gone in a different direction than it did.

But we shall never know.

I would love for Bruce Greenwood to be in the movie again. I only have one request. Remember: This is a changed universe, so nobody has to burn him up, paralyze him, and put him in whatever kind of a wheelchair that was in the original series. Don’t let that happen, this time around.

I never understood why even if he did survive getting burnt to a crisp he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life with the ability to communicate only through beeps and flashing lights. Maybe temporarily a day or two until a doctor or engineer hooked him up with new digs but forever?

@28
They probably figured how Pike ended up in TOS wasn’t right in the high tech future of Trek and the wheelchair is the worst he’ll get this time around.
I’d like to see Bruce Greenwood back as Pike on his way to recovering or fully recovered.

BEEP!

Boborci, If you are out there, my most sincere congratulations to Alex and you on…

Writing a movie with Cowboys and Aliens, directed by Jon Favreau which will have both Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in it!

You both are going to eat the world.

Would be nice to see Pike commanding one of Enterprise’s sister ships, with Number One at the helm.

And keep him the hell away from those old Class J starships!

#27. Jeffrey Hunter was injured in an explosion on the set of “Viva America!” He suffered at least two strokes because of this, the second causing him to fall and ultimately die from a cerebral hemorrhage.

That’s not to say that he may not have died some other way, but had Star Trek lasted at least as long, Hunter probably wouldn’t have been in the situation to be hurt in that explosion which ultimately resulted in his death.

If there had been the same kind of chemistry between Hunter and Spock and whomever may have been the “third person” in the group, be it John Hoyt as Dr. Boyce, Majel Barrett as Number One, or if by some chance DeForest Kelley was cast as Bones, the show could have been more popular at the time than it was (being that Hunter was a relatively big name) or the show could have died with the 60s.

However, greater success (lasting into the 70s) may have ultimately killed all future Trek endeavors, meaning that while the show may have been a huge hit, the fan base may not have ever been able to get a feature film made, and without that there would likely have never been a single spin-off produced.

Bruce Greenwood was great bring him back in Trek XII as Pike.

I like the idea of keeping Capt. Pike in the wheelchair and on the Enterprise for the next mission. For one thing, I think it sends a positive message to include a disabled crew-member. Secondly, I also like the fact that despite all the alterations in the timeline, Pike could not avoid this one particular fate as a result of his own personal sacrifices.

Definitely bring him back!

#9

Hunter might be alive, but Trek would’ve been dead way earlier.

I guess they will kill off Pike in the sequel and Kirk & co will be out for revenge

Bruce Greenwood, like Karl Urban, commanded the screen when he was on it. I hope both of these guys get more screen time, but we’ll just have to wait and see….

I wonder though, what would happen if Pike somehow found out what happened to him in the Prime universe — but he chose to go on the ship anyways to make sure the trainees got rescued I don’t know if that would be more badass or tragic.

…Yeah, yeah, I know, they’d probably just not go in the first place. What can I say? I’m a geek, not a writer.

I think including Pike is a good idea: it keeps continuity with the first story when the second is likely to be radically different; Kirk still needs a mentor and a boss; and BG clearly wants to be involved. I would keep him as a kind of obi-wan figure: he essentially served his purpose in the first film; so, in subsequent films, he’s just a source of guidance for our young hero, whose inexperience, brashness, arrogance, and disrespect for law and lawmakers will no doubt need tempering.

But BG’s involvement is a minor issue for me. I principally want the following from the sequel.

1. A great STORY. Star Trek 2009 had a pretty good story; but it was severely limited by being an origin story and having to introduce an ensemble, and some of their back-stories, in just one film. Accordingly, little time was given to the hero, who lacked screen-time and was, essentially, a poor man’s Shinzon. In the sequel, I would like a complex story, with twists, turns, intrigue, drama, conflict, some humour, and lots of character development. Regarding character development, explore the triumvirate: Kirk is the golden mean between the extreme logic of Spock and the extreme emotion of McCoy. Let’s see this play out in the sequel: it was the cornerstone of classic Trek. So give more screen-time to Urban without compromising the rest of the characters. Give Uhura that fight scene Zoe’s so keen on but don’t highlight it as something strange or unusual: she would have had combat training; so she should be treated as just another member of the crew.
2. INNOVATION. Keep giving us things we’ve never seen in a Star Trek movie. E.g., Kirk has never had a proper love-interest. We’ve never seen a space battle with fleets of ships, as in Star Wars. And we’ve seen little of Earth: the vast majority of the films are simply about our heroes in space or on the ship; they therefore lack ‘grounding’ for the uninitiated.
3. Champion the beauty and WONDER of space. The films have done this a little (principally TMP and TWOK). But we should see more: beautiful nebulae; fizzing comets; supernovae; foreboding gas giants; deep, black velvet space; twinkling stars in the unexplored horizon. To be enthralled by the adventure, the audience needs to appreciate how special, how cool it is, to be a space adventurer.
4. STAR POWER. The Trek films have rarely if ever done well overseas (it’s odd for me, an Englishman, to be saying this; but you understand). We need Hollywood/Bollywood A-listers to bring in the foreign audience. They could play Admirals in Star Fleet and Villains (who are recognisable by lack of make-up….Khan?) And maybe highlight that this is a multi-national as well as a multi-species Federation: have a few French or Mexican Admirals, etc.
5. DON’T ASSUME that there will be a sequel/sequels. Don’t hold back; throw everything you’ve got at it.
6. No more BUDGINEERING. This took away realism for me: it took me out of the film. I appreciate that JJ wanted a contrast between Engineering and the rest of the ship; but Nick Meyer achieved this, superbly, in TWOK with set construction, costume, and music without the need to go to a beer plant. At the very least, put some computers and other people down there. It was just Scotty, by himself, with no evident equipment, shouting back to Kirk as some steam escaped a canister! Where were the mass of technicians keeping the ship in orbit? Where was the towering, humming warp core? Where were the rows and columns of work stations? Since sets, costumes, equipment, etc., can be reused, assuming the budget is roughly similar, they should have PLENTY of money to put this right. To account for the change, just have a line in the film where it’s said the ship was refitted after the battle with Nero.
7. Read as many books and watch as many films, in all genres, as possible. Regarding Trek, there’s only a handful of episodes I would recommend to a person making a Trek film. They could get by and understand pretty much everything they need to just by watching (and re-watching) TWOK.

Hailing frequencies (and rant) closed, Captain.

A Trek without Greenwood’s like a day without sunshine. Hell yeah more Pike…walking/talking & in command of a Task Force that includes Enterprise as its’ lead ship. I want the iconic threesome (Kirk/Spock/Bones) to become the iconic foursome with Pike a permanent fixture in the Star Trek saga. The Enterprise can peel off from the Task force LATER (in a TV series) to go on its’ 5-year mission as the “lone wolf” explorer.

I have a mancrush on Pike. Not sure what to make of that….

I wanted to add that after Enterprise starts its’ 5-year mission, THAT’S when Pike is left behind with his Task Force command.

Also, a spin-off series that’s centered on ADMIRAL PIKE and his Task Force would be great! Start with a big budget movie to launch the series, then carry on with a TV series.

Just like when TOS became “The Mr. Spock Hour” for many fans, I can forsee a spin-off series becoming “the Admiral Pike Hour”.

Admiral Pike should be in it, in the same way that Admiral Janeway was in Nemesis.

YES–YES–YES–Pike (Bruce Greenwood) should be in the Star Trek sequel.
Not only should he be a part of the movie, but he should be OUT of the wheelchair, and back on his feet.
Pike should be a BIG part of the next movie in my opinion. I absolutely loved BG in the role and I really want to see him continue on. He has quite the command presence on the screen!
Like someone said in a comment above—a Trek without Greenwood is like a day without sunshine! I agree!!

We need to focus on more the trio Kirk Spock and McCoy wasn’t that what great Star Trek is

alec you have great opinions there