We have heard from many of the Kelvin movie cast since Paramount announced plans to reunite them for a fourth Star Trek movie, and now Simon Pegg joins the list. Speaking at FedCon over the previous weekend, he discussed returning to the role of Scotty, and a bit about the Quentin Tarantino Trek pitch. Also talking about Trek is Chris Hemsworth, who now appears open to a return to the role of Kirk’s dad.
Pegg confident, talked to director
Appearing at FedCon the weekend ahead of when Paramount CEO Brian Robbins talked about Star Trek 4 being on the “starting line,” Simon Pegg joked with the assembled crowd in Germany “I could exclusively announce at FedCon, I don’t f–ing know.” But he went on to echo his other co-stars, saying:
A fourth movie is planned. Obviously, the big problem with that is that there are a group of actors who are all busy and all have things going on. We have to find a moment when we can all be together… As soon as they can figure out our moment we can we could all be together, I’m sure we’ll do it. I’d love to get back together with those guys.
It’s bittersweet for us now because we lost Anton [Yelchin] and that really, it’s hard. I think we’ll miss him when we’re all together. We will feel that he’s not there. But any chance I get to hang with those guys I’ll always take. They’ve become like family over the last 12 years. So no one’s being coy. It’s not like we’re keeping secrets. We’re just waiting for the right moment for all to coalesce. So stay tuned.
Like other members of the cast, Pegg is still waiting on a script, but he has had contact with director Matt Shakman, saying “I’ve chatted to the director briefly.”
Simon Pegg as Scotty in Star Trek Beyond
Pegg talks Tarantino’s “insane” Trek
Simon Pegg was asked about the Quentin Tarantino Star Trek project that never got out of development, he offered some more insights:
Quentin came up with his mad Star Trek script. I think it’d be amazing to do it. It was really fun. People were asking me about it saying it was going to be all swearing and stuff and I said, “No it’s not going to be like that.” And then Quentin called me and said, “No, that’s exactly what it’s going to be.” So it was insane. And I think it’s a film that a lot of people would love to see. But because of Quentin’s schedule and his approach to moviemaking, I think he’s the only person that could possibly have directed it. So it’ll end up being one of those amazing lost scripts that people will try and get hold of… but I don’t think it’s going to get made.
Simon Pegg at FedCon 2022 (Photo: Sebastian Bittins)
Hemsworth now ready to say Yes to the Trek
Talk of a follow-up to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond has been an ongoing topic even before Beyond hit theaters, Paramount pre-announced a sequel that would bring back Chris Hemsworth to reprise his 2009 Star Trek role as George Kirk, father of James T. Kirk. A script was written and a director was hired with filming set to start in 2019, however, the film fizzled out after salary renegotiations broke down with both Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth.
Later Hemsworth said he wasn’t sold on the script for that film, however, the actor now appears to be ready to return to Trek. In a new video interview with Vanity Fair, Hemsworth discussed various roles he has played and when talking about the 2009 movie, he added the following:
There was talk about me doing the film with Chris Pine at one point. The script was sort of put together and then it fell apart. And if J.J. Abrams called me tomorrow and said, “Chris Pine and I want to do it,” I’d probably say “Yeah, let’s go for it.”
There are no indications that the current 2023 Star Trek project planned by producer J.J. Abrams calls for Hemsworth to reprise his role. It was developed after the previous project fell apart with a different director and different writers.
Chris Hemsworth in 2009’s Star Trek
Special thanks to Sebastian Bittins of Euderion for his photo contribution to this article.
Keep up with all the news on Star Trek 4 and upcoming Trek films at TrekMovie.com.
As Always, FINGERS CROSSED!
So the holdup is the actors schedules….wait, I thought twenty “experts” here on Trekmovie insisted to me that the holdup is a continuing Paramount production/decision f’up? LOL :-))
Scheduling conflicts can be the fault of the studio … I don’t know if that’s the case here though
If the studio had made the deals with the actors way back before announcing the release date, they’d be locked in and the schedule would make sense. The way they went about it probably drove up the actors’ asking prices since the studio is theoretically locked into a release date (though not in any legal sense like TMP was), and alternately, if the scheds don’t come together or the asking prices do get too high, the studio can slip it back or cancel, owing to ‘unforeseeable’ difficulties.
I think Paramount is probably a lot more interested in TOP GUN sequels and spinoffs right now than TREK movies. I’m also starting to think that given how wonderful THE OFFER turned out, that a limited series the dramatizes the making of TMP might actually be a better Trek offering than a new feature. I had sketched that idea out as a feature idea, but with P+, I know I could probably do the whole era justice by starting with the airing of TAS and working your way up to 12/7/79. Maybe it is about time that Par actually let itself look bad for how it mishandled things over and over on that film.(especially if there is a buck in it for them now.)
Top Gun: Attack of the Drones
Yeah, I’d think that Top Gun would be front and center for Paramount these days. Cruise’s Mission Impossible features have been solid performers for the studio, as well. Maybe it’s time to say bye to BR, revive C/W Productions, and let them have a crack at the franchise.
Just a thought, anyway…
I’m pretty sure Paramount is calling Cruise every day and asking him could they somehow jump start a Top Gun shared universe set of movies.
Top Gun: Maverick is a hit I don’t think anyone saw coming. Even if they thought it would do well, I doubt anyone thought it could get to a billion dollars. And it just passed $800 million so it probably will in a few weeks time.
And that movie cost less than STID and STB to make. When you’re spending that kind of money, this is the kind of returns they want to see and not movies that just break even on these big budgets like the Kelvin movies basically did.
No idea what they are thinking long term with future Kelvin movies but I don’t see BR making more of them if they can’t keep the budget under $150 million for the next movie and still barely make a little more than what Maverick pulled off in its single first weekend. Something has to give.
I wonder if they really do conclude Mission Impossible with Dead Reckoning part 2. Way too much money on the table to stop making those.
One Lion, looks like we’re going to have different views on this one.
Given that the studio “courageously” and transparently announced a release date before any effort to negotiate with the actors’ agents on schedules, how could any delay at this point be on anyone but the studio?
In no collaboration or large scale, high cost project, I’ve ever been part of would it be deemed good leadership to announce an investment and a work plan without consulting and lining up the partners first. It rather flies in the face of both respectful collaboration AND maximizing bargaining power.
Now, my sense is that Paramount may have reached the “do it or breach” or “do it or the contract dies” point with in the movie production deal with Bad Robot. That could be enough to drive greenlighting a “announce first, negotiate with everyone else later” approach. In that case, the blame still lies with previous Paramount executives for more than a half decade of dithering.
From a “what more could go wrong” academic study this continues to be mildly intriguing, as a fan I’ve largely lost interest.
While the cast are now draws on there own, I also question whether (ignoring sunk costs) at this point another Kelvin movie is strategically sound, especially as the rest of the target market in our household have refused to watch any of the Kelvin films after seeing Star Trek 2009. I know that these films did work in terms of attracting a new audience of millennials, but at this point another Kelvin movie may be taking the place in the schedule that should belong to a new film that draws in the next generation of teens and twenty-somethings.
If the executives Paramount cinematic side wanted to set the franchise up to be yet another business or film school case study of how not manage the cinematic side of a valuable IP, they couldn’t have done it better.
Or the actors are so busy and committed that Paramount decided to be proactive and get out in front of this. This is a completely new regime in charge at Paramount, and I think we are going to hear in the next 90 days the info that gives us a firm green light and schedule.
I’d be surprised if Pegg actually knows details about what’s going on.
They should get all of these unmade Trek scripts from all throughout the years and keep them somewhere and perhaps use them as kind of like an anthology show or movies sometime in the future. I know there are certain instances in filmmaking when people dust off long lost scripts to make new stuff from them and it’d be interesting to do.
Better yet, option them to authors for new Trek novels.
IDW should do a ‘Lost Movies’ series like the Harlan Ellison version of City on the Edge (and Star Wars had an alt version graphic novel based on Lucas’ original draft). Each script 4-5 issues (then collected in a tpb)
ST1 – Planet of the Titans
ST2 – JFK (and maybe some of the rough drafts involving Khan, Genesis etc)
ST3 – Return to Genesis (romulans instead of klingons)
ST4 – Eddie Murphy
ST6 – Bennetts Starfleet Academy
ST8 – Shatners The Return / Star Trek: Renaissance
ST9 – Heart of Darkness
ST11 – Avengers type crossover sequel to Nemesis
ST The Beginning (Berman)
Orci ST3 (with Shatner)
Hemsworth ST4
Tarantino Trek
You left out Shatner’s ST VII, THE ASHES OF EDEN story, and the original GR Trek movie idea about the planet with smart cows that WANT to get eaten. I think it is called CATTLEMEN. Also Koenig’s FLANDER’S FIELD story with most of them dying, or Ellison’s pre-TMP pitch.
I still can’t believe Tom Hanks hasn’t bought up all the stories Clarke wrote that went unused for 2001 and use them for a limited series, like a SPACE BAND OF BROTHERS thing. Clarke’s LOST WORLDS OF 2001 is full of great stuff that could go into a series that either reflected or ignored 2001, plus the other stories that Kubrick bought and sold back to Clarke would help fill it out and make (joke title) HOW THE SOLAR SYSTEM WAS WON into a great HBO series. And if they don’t get on the ball, FOR ALL MANKIND is going to traipse all over this territory in seasons to come.
I didnt think Ashes of Eden was a proposed movie unlike The Return which Shatner pitched to Berman for VIII (then turned it into a novel when Berman didnt go with it), yeah Koenig’s idea for VI sounded interesting so that could be another one. there’s also GRs prequel idea around the time of TOS
ASHES was first Shatner’s idea for TUC, not GEN, sorry about that error.
There’s probably some good ones there but, but a lot of ideas didn’t see the day for a good reason
True. But while they may not have been good enough to sustain a whole movie, they might still be suitable for upcoming eps on SNW etc…
Turn Tarantino’s script into a graphic novel.
With QT, it’s Grrrrrr-RAPHIC, alright!
Come on guys give it a rest and bury this. It’s been too long since the last movie and things have moved on considerably on the TV front. Let’s just leave it.
We just got Obi Wan after 15+ years, with Hayden — an actor everyone hated — being cheered for his return.
A 6-7 year gap is NOTHING. The idea that it’s “been too long” is possibly the dumbest thing i’ve ever heard. In fact, the gap might actually help as kids who saw the 2009 film will be well into adulthood now and have some form of nostalgia for the Abrams films, as wild as that sounds.
As much as it pains me to say it, Star Trek is incomparable to Star Wars in terms of popularity, ANYTHING star wars related gets an audience.
It’s clear a lot of fans want a fourth film with this crew. So… no, they shouldn’t bury it.
It takes more than a “lot of fans” in the US to make an adequate return-on-investment.
More to the point, going forward with another Kelvin movie has clearly cleared any other options that might have attracted a younger audience off the board.
The cast are, at this point, all name talents in their own right who may draw in a new fans, but otherwise I’m not seeing the economics of this as being optimal.
With Spider-Man NWH, Multiverse of Madness and the upcoming Flash movie, it is quite obvious they want a multiverse movie for Trek. I guess that’s the ONLY reason they bring back this cast: to reconnect the timelines and then move on with this cast in the Primeverse… There’s a lot of ground to cover inbetween TMP and TWOK :-)
Yes I would be VERY surprised if its another standalone adventure like Beyond with no Spiderman/Dr Strange type multiverse stuff to do with the Primeverse .. The previous movies have often followed movie trends (like Bond has) – switching from another TV series to big budget movie after success of SW’77/CE3K, darker horror elements like Alien/Empire in Trek II, Spielberg/Lucas elements to III, fish out of water comedy/time travel like Croc Dundee/BTTF in IV, cold war stuff like Red October for VI, alien invasion ID4 element to FC, reboot like Batman/Bond with ST09, TDK type villain/CGI epic city destruction like MCU in STID, GOTG fun vibe/F&F ‘family’ stuff in Beyond
Exactly.
Why compare with the multiverse in more successful franchises that are made for the cinema? Star Trek isn’t that. Janeway and Sisko getting together to save the universe isn’t really the same as Batman and Spiderman coming together is it?
Sisko and Janeway? Off topic. We are talking prime universe TMP crew and KT movie crew coming together, saving space-time and evetually remerging the timelines, maybe. That way the Kelvin cast could continue in the PU post-TMP…
And Kirk and Spock are at least as iconic as Doctor Strange, Professor X or the Flash…
And that still wouldn’t matter to anyone else but Star Trek fans. C’mon? No one cares about a Star Trek ‘team up’ movie but other Star Trek fans, period.
Dr. Strange latest movie made $900+ million because it’s the MCU. People don’t seem to get this, it isn’t the characters that drive the franchise so much as the universe itself that does.Or in this case now the multiverse. And obviously that was the point, the ‘U’ in MCU is what makes it stand out as a brand.
Unfortunately Star Trek doesn’t have that same appeal except to hardcore fans and why it will never reach $900 million no matter who you throw in.
This was made clear with the Kelvin movies themselves. Star Trek just has a ceiling.
The irony is for casual fans of the MCU they don’t have to know or care about any of the characters, they just like the crazy and quirky universe they exist in so that drives them to go. For casual Star Trek fans it’s the complete opposite, they don’t care about the universe, time setting, etc, they care about the characters they like. And yes, this is very generalized but that is the trend. A casual MCU fan will see any movie, it doesn’t matter. Casual Trek fans will go if certain characters are in it. But it’s not going to have the same effect on a massive scale. That’s why Trek does better on TV.
You can throw in Sisko, Kirk, KU KIrk, Picard, all three Spocks, Gul Dukat, Saru, the Doctor, Archer, both Khans, Q, Janeway and on and on and on and cross it all over with the Prime, Kelvin and Mirror Universe you will still make nowhere close to what an MCU film does.
All of that is correct. But it’s not the point… Paramount has a history of trying to emulate other players, especially Star Wars and comic books.
Original Star Wars led to TMP, the SW prequels led to ENT Batman Begins led to ST09, GOTG led to Beyond and now those multiverse CBMs will lead to a Trek multiverse movie… Of course the result will not be on par but that’s just how they role… trying to jump the bandwaggon of current media trends…
I don’t agree with all of that though. Yes TMP led to Star Wars, that’s definitely on record. The SW prequels had nothing to do with Enterprise though. That’s absurd man. Same with GOTG and Beyond. They tried to mimic the marketing of that movie in the first horrid trailer but then back away from it in the next one. But there was nothing about the film itself that emulated GOTG. And the Federation would tell you they been guardians of the galaxy for a few centuries long before Starlord and Groot started doing it. ;D
And for the record I have nothing against a multiverse movie. I’m only saying if people expect the film to suddenly make tons more money just because you make it one isn’t realistic either. It may get more Star Trek fans to show up of course and maybe more people will see it more than once. So I’m not against the idea and it would be a big marketing hook for people to turn out for it. But it’s still going to just matter to Star Trek fans basically regardless if it’s two Kirks or two Janeways.
And Paramount seems to know that and why they torpedoed Orci’s idea of bringing back Shatner and Nimoy in his third movie. But then that was short sighted at the time too because I’m certain having them in the movie would’ve gotten more Trek fans to see it in the theater at least; especially for the 50th anniversary. But more proof Paramount has no idea what to do with these movies.
I’m guessing that a big part of the reason for the multiverse in Marvel and DC is that it lets them produce lots and lots of content. Plus they can use it to tie various films together.
Plus the comics have been doing multiverse stories for decades, so readers/viewers are used to it. Also, studios can play with different versions of the same character that appeared in various places (TV or a competing studio’s film).
I don’t think it’s a trend outside of comic book movies. And I don’t see any real storytelling reason why Trek needs to be part of it.
And whether they do it via time travel or an alternate universe, I truly don’t see much storytelling potential in Pine’s Kirk meeting his dad. He meets dad, at first they don’t get along and then they do, dad has to sacrifice himself again… or Kirk finds himself in some timeline where dad never died but — dad now has to sacrifice himself for some reason, Meh.
Nearly 30 years ago, the studio made a big deal about Kirk meeting Picard in Generations — and it was completely underwhelming.
Star Treks fans don’t count for anything when it comes to the movie business, you need a general audience for a movie of this magnitude, they had some momentum during the Abrams era but as I said in an earlier comment, this isn’t star wars its star trek. Star Wars can have decade long gaps and still be successful on the big screen, star trek can’t unless now the whole movie universe is rebooted.
Exactly. And Paramount knew that for a long long time. That’s exactly why TOS and TNG had low-to-middle tier budgets, they were made basically for Star Trek fans in mind.
Kelvin movies broke that mold and that was a GOOD thing obviously but the movies still proved A. It’s still a problem of attracting new fans like other top franchises do for their budgets and B. You can’t sustain the new fans attention for very long. That’s what both STID and STB made clear. The ONLY reason STID made a little more than the first movie is because of China basically. Without China, STID would’ve made maybe $20 million more than the first film and even that would be due to partly inflation and a higher distribution of theaters abroad.
I don’t want to sound cynical about these movies, but you have to be realistic too. That was the entire problem with Beyond. If Paramount was more realistic with that movie (including expectations) it would’ve been a lower made movie from the start and we probably would’ve had another movie years ago by now.
I still doubt the next film will do beyond $450 million tops. And if I was Paramount, my expectations should be $100 million below that and budget accordingly.
I don’t get this obsession with bringing Hemsworth back. He was good in the first one but let’s be honest here … from a story standpoint you could totally cut that scene and wouldn’t even notice, something is missing.
Why not just let Lin and Pegg take the helm again. They’re both lifelong Trek fans and already made a pretty good movie together. The reason it lost money were the two (especially the second) movies before it, because Kurtzman and Orci don’t know how to write a good story and Abrams is probably the most overrated director in all of hollywood …
I agree story-wise but the fact is he’s a big known name thanks to Thor and Avengers. That’s it. That’s the reason. But that’s also partly why the scheduling is proving a problem. The entire cast is now much bigger than they were in 2009. Pine, Saldana, Urban, all in demand right now.
I agree with your second graf, but honestly (and this is coming from somebody who hated the Abrams-directed films, especially the 09), the Hemsworth open is the closest Abrams came to delivering any kind of goods at all. It (like the rest of the film) fell flat for me, but my wife, who won’t rewatch the movie because she finds it so stupid, admitted she even liked the open. If you don’t have some kind of human grounding for the film up front, the rest of it would have been floundering for audiences wanting a way into the story.
Plus shots of the KELVIN — especially the close-in shots of the hull — look tons better (read: like a physical object, not coming off painterly) than pretty much all the other ship VFX in 09 and ID … I don’t know if it is the warmer hues or what, but at the time I was wondering if it was because they only used physical models in that scene (historically, there is some validity with this speculation — the opening scene in THE PHANTOM MENACE with the Jules Verne/blockade runner looking ship was all done with motion control models, even though nearly all the rest of the film was CG, apparently because they wanted the audience to get a familiar look and feel up front to help them buy into what followed.)
Tons I’ve read elsewhere indicates this is NOT the case, that it was all CG, but I still wonder, because 32-TEN, the modelmakers who formed a new company after ILM shut down the modelshp and went full CG, was on this film and did get credited (they did lots of other work for ILM in that era as well as subcontractors.)
I tried to find out what they did on the film and all it got me was a near total ban on getting to cover ILM projects that lasted for nearly a decade. That’s on the order of probably 15 or 18 articles where either I had to skip covering the ILM section of things or not get to do an article at all, with BATTLESHIP being the sole exception, apparently because the director insisted I get to talk to them, and the interviews for that apparently bypassed ILM’s then-main PR guy, the guy who didn’t like it when I called him on his omissions and untruths.
It was not till after that guy left the company when suddenly I was hearing, ‘ILM would like to have you interview them about their part in finishing THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND’ and things went back to the way they were for the 19 years preceding TREK 09.
I‘m not saying it’s a bad scene. Quite the contrary. Its probably the best in the movie. But if you just cut it out, nothing is missing. The relevant aspects are related through dialogue later and work just as well from a story standpoint.
imagine the poster for the Hemsworth ST4 in 2019, similar to the Bob Peak TWOK poster: big figure of long hair/bearded Hemsworth holding a phaser rifle like a hammer, below figures of Pine,Quinto,Saldana holding phasers (like STID poster), with the Enterprise-A and Kelvin in battling the Narada. and above a big Nero face/eyes in the starfield background (like Chang on the STVI poster). Tagline at top: ‘the battle to AVENGE the past has begun’
I say go for it, but will admit as more time/years have gone by I’m becoming more ambivalent about it, especially if JJ is at the helm. I’ve lost a bit of faith in his productions. It’s not aimed at my demographic anyway – I’ll be waiting until this hits streaming to see it.
Great idea for a Kelvin sequel:
A devious villain from a parallel reality is trying to kill Kirk… every Kirk, in every reality. He’s already killed Mirror Kirk, and now he’s here to kill Pine’s Kirk. Pine Kirk averts death, but discovers the villain has another Kirk held captive on his ship: Lt. Kirk — Paul Wesley — from Strange New Worlds.
In the end, they have to team up with an OLDER Kirk, from a third reality. An 85 year old rear admiral… played by… you guessed it….
…Robert Redford!
“I don’t f**king know” – Simon Pegg
All you need to know, in four short words.
Yep, lol.
I for one would love to see Akiva Goldsman and his creative staff come up with a story for Strange New Worlds that includes George Kirk (still alive in the prime time line according to canon) THAT IS SO GOOD that Chris Hemsworth would want to reprise the role in that show as well …. and have Paramount (re-merged with CBS) present the courage to put him in it….. presuming such a story is written that well that does includes G Kirk (and maybe, also, Winona Kirk as portrayed by Jennifer Morrison – also from ST 2009). Yeah, I’d buy that story in a heartbeat.
I mean, why not? We have SO MANY characters reprising their previous roles – from TOS cast IN THE MOVIES and other series’ such as TNG, to others coming back for the newer shows, such as Janeway, Seven of Nine, Chakotay, Paris, Sonia Gomez, etc. That kind of CONTINUITY makes a difference: such as the pure joy of seeing DeForest Kelley, James Doohan and Leonard Nimoy on TNG.
They’ve talked about making another one far more than actually making these films. The last one came out in 2016 by now there should have been at least 2 more movies based on the way Trek movies used to get made before Bad Robot.
Eh, they’re really going to have two Spocks, two Uhuras, two Kirks at the same time … somehow I don’t think that helps the demand of your pricy moviefilm, even if they do spend less than Star Trek: Idris Elba Hates Peace. Ethan Peck has already shown he has more star quality and Vulcan quality than Quinto, so…