Report: ‘Walking Dead’ Actress Danai Gurira Under Consideration For Role In ‘Star Trek 4’

Activity on the Star Trek 4 project continues to heat up with a new report today that indicates early casting is already underway.

Today the trades reported that  The Walking Dead and Black Panther actress Danai Gurira has been tapped as a lead in the next MonsterVerse film, Godzilla vs. Kong. But the Deadline article about Gurira also adds that “sources said she is also circling the next Star Trek film at Paramount, the one that brought on S.J. Clarkson to become the first woman to helm a film in the vaunted Trek series.” No details on the role for Gurira were provided.

Danai Gurira in Black Panther

The Godzilla vs Kong film is currently in pre-production and set to be released on May 22, 2020. Paramount has yet to officially set a release date for the Star Trek 4 project, but director S.J. Clarkson has already been meeting with cast. Chris Hemsworth is set to return as George Kirk, joining the rest of the Kelvin-verse crew who were last in space for 2016’s Star Trek Beyond.

If Gurira ends up signing on for Star Trek 4 she would be following in the footsteps of her The Walking Dead co-star Sonequa Martin-Green, who beamed over from the zombie series to lead the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery.

Danai Gurira in The Walking Dead

Keep up with all news on both Star Trek 4 and the Tarantino Trek project at TrekMovie’s upcoming films category.

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Maybe they’re saving boss Lennie James for the Tarantino project.

Danai Gurira would be so great in ST – Let’s hope this happens!

Guinan

Ooh I like that idea!

Wow she would be perfect!

Great shout.

Elaurians do live a long time so I guess that would be possible.

This is great news!

We know Guinan was living before the 1800s when she visited Earth. So yeah it could totally work.

JTL,

God, please no!

Really, the first impulse is to zero in on an almost throw away character from TNG who happens to be a woman of color? Chekov is on eternal patrol, how about his replacement? Or an admiral, seeing how Pike is also dead.

Guinan was my fave “throwaway” character from TNG. Maybe I want to zero in on a kickass actress for my fave character?

Yeah I really love Guinan too. Obviously I don’t think anyone seriously thinks she will play that character since this is TOS related, I think someone just made an observation and the rest went with it.

Others on Reddit seem to think she is playing a Klingon lol. But that’s what happen when you play a lot of tough warrior character types…you get type cast. ;)

I’m up for anything they give her!

She has a rather unique facial resemblance that could pass for a young Guinan if you can get past only identifying her race.

Actress is black. Must be playing a black character we know. Lol

How about no?

No I think what people are saying is that she actually resembles Guinan a bit and could pass for her if they were recasting. Of course I highly doubt she’s playing her and a brand new character but she could fit.

Exactly. Her face does fit as a “young Guinan”

There is no need for that asinine remark. She has the facial resemblance that could pass for a young Guinan if you woukld simply drop the laziness of only looking look at her race. Like, duh!

Really?😑

Cool idea!

She is a fierce woman in both Dead and Panther. Bring it!

Great news! Let’s do this already!

Of course they are getting ready to cast the movie…just as I have been saying, this movie is getting made, and they will start filming no later than around January.

No one has disputed that Paramount would make another Trek movie…or two. The question is when. Rumor still isn’t fact.

Nah, this is 95% a done deal. I don’t need some “green-lighting” public announcement, which Paramount has a history not providing as much as other studios in any case, to make that assessment.

Paramount has been soft on a hard green-light announcement, however, when hard pre-production activities begin it’s never a secret. So, at this point we are stile in ‘development’, no one anywhere is preselling tickets on the rumored nonsense floating around the digital realm…

OK, we are going to have to disagree to disagree. I see that you are a graduate of the “Curious Cadet School of Inability to Draw a Reasonable Conclusion,” and that’s fine. :-)

PS: We can also deduce that Paramount will have pressure to get this rolling by early next year or they risk off pissing off QT, who will likely want to start filming his by early 2021 at the latest.

I’ve no issue arriving at a reasonable conclusion, and I’ve been saying for a while that Paramount will make another Trek movie. A reasonable conclusion. That they are all fired up and the actors are all ready to drop what they are doing now is an irrational one. Pine, Saldana, and Hemsworth all seem to have pretty solid schedules for the next twelve months, and to the best of anyone’s knowledge no sets are being built. Generally, these are twenty four month projects, and we are six months into that window. The reasonable conclusion is a 2021 release date. QT is still a wild card at this point.

Wow? Seriously? That is three years from now???

Sorry, but I could not disagree more. That’s just wack!

Yeah I don’t know how Phil is getting the idea it would be three years from now lol. I mean Episode 9 for Star Wars hasn’t even started shooting yet and that film will come out Christmas 2019. Marvel films actually only take 18 months from filming through opening. Infinity War didn’t start shooting until the end of January 2017 and was released in April 2018. One of the biggest films ever.

Even if they shoot in early 2019 they can still get it out in 2020. I mean look at Beyond. That film literally got delayed by several months and didn’t start shooting it until June 2015 IIRC and was out a year and a month later.

Exactly. They have a director, are working on version two of the script, and are casting additional parts…no way this is 3 years away…Phil is just way off.

Phil, I think its safe to say a movie is happening at this point or they wouldn’t have went out their way to hire a director already. That signals they are now in the pre-production phase. If they were still talking about just writing the script, getting the main cast on board and all of that yeah I would agree. But now they are at the point of actually casting people so unless this thing seriously go sideways its clear the film is happening as far as Paramount is concerned.

Maybe they are still holding back on starting dates for a reason, it could be one. My guess is we will hear something either at Comic Con or the Las Vegas convention. They have two big geek events to get fans salivating. If no announcements happen in either of those then maybe you are right.

As I recall, Paramount mostly took a pass at all these events in the run up to Beyond. A botched fan event, and the premiere at SDCC. Don’t think I’ve never said a movie wasn’t going to be made, just that the deeper we get into 2018, the less likely a 2020 release date would be.

Well OK if you’re just arguing about the date, that’s different. Before it seem like you didn’t think a movie was happening with this cast at all but I can see you no longer feel that way.

As far as when the film could happen, yeah it could be 2021, it could still be 2020 if they release it in the winter. Until the Kelvin films thats when most of the later Trek films got released. And 09 was originally suppose to be released December of 08 before it was pushed to summer. But we’ll see. I’m just excited about all the Trek news with possibly two movies happening and a ton of new shows. And I think the LACK of events like SDCC is what got Beyond in trouble in the first place, because the buzz was awful with so little promotion and marketing. HOPEFULLY they will learn from that and do the opposite with the next one.

Either way, it’s an exciting time! :)

He’s wrong. The movie will be released in 2020, and the QT Trek movie NLT than 2022.

I hope so. Thats the problem with these films now, they take so long between sequels people move on. 2020 is already four years since Beyond. Hopefully its no later than that.

“just that the deeper we get into 2018, the less likely a 2020 release date would be.”

No, you are getting it backwards. The deeper we are getting into 2018 the more is sounds like filming is about 6 months away at this point.

Again, Paramount is notorious by not really announcing publicly things like green lighting and pre-production start dates…my sense is that some prep-production activities are already happening, and that we we learn more about concrete pre-production efforts by September, and then a start of filming after the Holidays.

And Saldana just wrapped on her portion of the Avatar 2/3 filming, and Hemsworth’s schedule opens up in early 2018, so that is good timing…so you info is wrong on those two not being available.

BorgKlingon, guardians of the galaxy 3 will start filming in January too and the two Chris might also have something around that time. Zoe could do both because she did other times (as she isn’t the main character) but probably is more convenient for Paramount to start filming in spring anyway. They’d have enough post production time for both a summer or winter 2020 release. At least for their standards the movies seem to require an average amount of time for editing so they aren’t necessarily into trouble if they don’t start in January.

However, I also see Phil’s point because it doesn’t look like there is anything official yet, and production hadn’t started. This points more to them possibly filming a bit later than not filming in 2019 at all.

Except that I would conjecture that Zaldana is not going have a major role in the Trek film, given it’s obviously going to primarily focus on Kirk and his father. So they will simply schedule her scenes in around here Marvel schedule in early 2019…no need to delay the Trek filming due to her schedule.

And it’s possible she will demand a lot more $$$ for the next Trek film, so I don’t think its a done deal that she will be returning if she demands a starring role price. If that happens, then perhaps the first scene in the movie has her and Chekov dying off-screen? Probably not, but you never know?

Didn’t say they’d it for her schedule, if that they do it would be because more than one actor here will be busy in 2019/next months ..and because production may not be ready in few months from now anyway.

There is nothing official yet, just rumors. So it’s early to think about filming schedules. We truly don’t know when they’ll start filming, nor any release date. However, that doesn’t mean 2019 isn’t a possibility. Beyond didn’t start filming until around summer and they still released it on time. Hence, it isn’t like if we don’t have official news they start in January/February then it means the movie is in trouble or we have to wait for years.

Not true. We have a director, a revised script in development, Paramount saying we are going to get this movie, and Hemsworth signed or optioned. I guess if you need to see these in a Press Release to really accept them as “official,” I can’t argue with that…but it’s pretty clear to me that this is all locked in…this all rises well above “rumors” as you suggest???

Assessing what I have seen, and now noticing that it appears they are now casting secondary roles, I remain confident in predicting an early 2019 filming. Could it be February or March instead of January? OK I can go with that, but I would be astounded if this movie does not start filming during the first calendar quarter of next year.

Somehow I suspect that Hemsworth and Saldana will have the usual contractual PR work for Infinity War, Part II, hitting theaters May 2019. Scripts are frequently ‘in development’ up to the day the camera’s start rolling, that’s hardly an indicator this production is a lock. For any kind of a lock on principle photography beginning there need to be sets built, preliminary FX work, and all the usual permitting and financing that comes with it. There is no indication that a nail has been driven, or an FX house has been put on retainer yet, either in LA or Canada. Typically this sort of production requires 24 months, give or take, which is a June-July-August 2020 release date if work starts today. Paramount would need to be much deeper into pre-production then they (apparently) are now, to be able to speak of a 2020 release date with any confidence. 2021 is much more likely, or, who knows, maybe JJ did slip one in completely under the radar, ah la Cloverfield III. Does anyone really care if the next Trek movie goes straight to Netflix?

She is an awesome actress! I hope she’s in it!

She should make an entrance using two armless borg drones as her mules lol.

Danai is one of the few members of the TWD cast who has a range of acting, so I’m happy to see her show up in the Trek universe(s).

Wow the Walking Dead cast is slowly taking over Star Trek!

Yes this is great news if true. I love her on TWD but her character is also great in the MCU. She had the funniest line in Infinity War lol. Speaking of MCU, man how many crossovers have their now been with the Kelvin movies? Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Idris Elba, Chris Hemsworth and now possibly Gurira! Pretty cool!

Anyway things look like they are heating up. I can’t wait until comic con!

Rick could play Kirk on Discovery.

She’s a fine actress, could be a good fit. Depends on the character and the writing more than the actor though.

Does nothing for me hope its a really small part. Movie Trek already has Uhura & Sulu no need to overload on PC casting stunts just for the sake of it.

I find it funny since she’s black and a woman it automatically has to be for ‘PC stunt casting’ and not because she just happens to be a good actress they think may be a good fit for their film.

So if it was a white guy, it would just be casting another role for you, right?

Some of you people really need to hear yourselves.

The Kelvin Universe version of Michael Burnham, maybe? Hahaha

Came here to make the same comment ;)

The film has now entered the “casting rumors” phase. Another good sign things could be progressing forward.

Don’t really know the actress. Don’t watch TWD. And do not recall her from either of the MCU flicks she was in. Perhaps because both her MCU movies were downright disappointing. IMHO the MCU is officially now stuck in a rut. The Ant-Man sequel wasn’t all that hot either. Hope this doesn’t foreshadow the upcoming Captain Mar-vell.

I have a feeling Paramount would love to be stuck in that “rut” that Marvel/Buena Vista is in.

Funny how $3.3 billion worldwide for 2 movies is disappointing.

I wasn’t talking about how much money they have made. I was talking about the quality of the movie itself. (The crappiest of their movies have done great at the B.O.) Box office does not = quality. The last 4 have been among the lower quality efforts over the last 10 years. 1 is an anomaly. Two can happen. 3 raises an eyebrow. 4 in a row I think I can call a trend.

Again, Paramount would love to the have the problem you describe.

“4 in a row I think I can call a trend” – how nice of you to make that distinction that you see it as problem that you personally didn’t like the last 4 movies. I’m sure Marvel is very worried.

That is what ML31 does a lot here — he proclaims his subjective opinions as if they are facts.

I will thank you to NOT misquote me. I have never once presented my opinion as facts. If I have, please enlighten me to where.

And for the record, saying something is good or bad is NOT presenting ones opinion as fact. When something is obviously subjective it goes without saying that it is the opinion of the writer. If you have a hard time with that then not sure what can be done for you.

Obviously the bottom line is the movies make money. If they are good too, that’s just icing on the cake. The previous 4 do seem have have the money side of things sewn up. Were they actually good? Meh… Not so much. And no. Disney does not care what ML31 thinks. The product is bringing in cash. End of story. That doesn’t mean I have to blindly say the movies were good when they clearly weren’t.

Besides.. What do you care that I didn’t like them? You seem happy they made tons of money. You must have been very satisfied to read the box office reports. I’m pleased you were happy. Me… I’d like to see an entertaining film. The last 4 flicks have not been up to the caliper of most of the others. Sue me.

Stop being a troll ML. All you like to do is claim your beliefs as facts. Just because YOU didn’t like the movies does not mean the MCU is in a rut. I can’t just see the headlines…
“Marvel executives claim MCU is in a rut. ML says so. Must be true.”

Wow ML31 is a troll now. Just shameful.

Ah yes, quality is what ML31 get’s to assign as a group-think proclamation, of course. LOL

Calling them disappointing, considering both her MCU movies are No. 1 and No. 2 in this year’s box office, is borderline trolling. Especially Black Panther garnered overwhelmingly positive critical response on top.

No. Calling them disappointing is someone dishing out an opinion. I don’t care how much money they made. Even the worst MCU movies have made plenty of money. That does not mean they were good. I know Black Panther had positive critical response. That, in my opinion, was amazingly unearned. It’s not trolling when it is a genuine opinion. Trolling is saying something for the sole purpose of creating strife. There are a couple of posters who do that. I am not one of them.

Agreed. It is borderline trolling.

So, using your own definition of “borderline trolling”, what you have just done is itself “borderline trolling”. Congratulations!

PS… You also just presented your opinion as fact. Using your own definitions, mind you.

Stop trolling. Have some decorum.

closing thread, stop bickering

I haven’t seen any of those movies yet. A few of them are streaming on Netflix but I can’t be bothered to watch. I think I will watch Black Panther though.

I just hope WHOEVER they cast, the role is NOT another “angry, vengeance-seeking baddie who was screwed over by the federation and now they have a super scary ship/weapon and want to blow up Earth and/or other federation planets and its a race for the U.S.S. Enterprise to foil their evil plans”. PLEASE, Star Trek writers, for the love of God, STOP doing that.

Yes, please for the love of Kahless if you’re going to have another villain please don’t do another revenge story line with a super weapon or ship. Its gotten pretty boring.

Does this mean the Michonne is being killed off on The Walking Dead? Or did that already happen? I haven’t watched that show for a long time.

No if anything it sounds like they will beef up her role next season given some of the bigger changes rumored for the show. I don’t want to spoil it for people and its all just rumors now but go Google some of the stuff that people are hearing.

And its not a Martin-Green situation with Discovery. Filming two shows simultaneously is a different deal than making a show and a movie. Remember she also made both Black Panther AND Infinity War all in the same year she shot TWD. Its easier to work around a movie schedule than another TV show. It also didn’t hurt all three of those were shot in the same city lol. In this case, Atlanta. So she didn’t have to go far to show up for any of those projects.

Speaking of Atlanta, Zazie Beetz also shot a Tv show and the movie Deadpool 2. Would be fantastic if they would cast her in a Star Trek movie,Star Wars failed to cast her. It’s time they cast a german actress to cater to that market. Last time they did something similar was casting an austrian actress in WOK and that worked out great.

Damn she’s hott.

Put in the role if she desires it. She’s obviously qualified if someone’s thinking about adding her.

I would like to see her in the next movie.