The plan to make another entry in the current Star Trek franchise has never been in doubt. The surprising thing is what the story will apparently entail. Chris Hemsworth, who was only on screen for a few minutes in the first film, will somehow be back, and he says J.J. Abrams has spoken to him about how his return would happen. While we're still not sure exactly how that will work, Hemsworth seems to be completely on board with the idea, even if it does sound like it's only an idea.
I've spoken to J.J. Abrams, and he has an amazing pitch on the whole thing.
Two years before Chris Hemsworth became an international star as marvel's Thor, he had a small part at the beginning of J.J. Abrams Star Trek. He played George Kirk, the father of Chris Pine's James Tiberius who sacrifices himself so that his wife and newborn son can escape an alien attack. While that one scene is the only time that we ever see the character of George Kirk, the character has loomed over the young Jim for the entire franchise. The idea that the rogue starship captain needs to somehow prove himself has always been a part of the franchise's subtext.
Still, it was more than a little surprising when we heard that J.J. Abrams had an idea for the next Star Trek film that would somehow bring George Kirk back into the story. Chris Hemsworth told MTV that he doesn't know if the exact structure of the story includes time travel or yet another alternative timeline, but it would seem that however it works, it's a great idea according to Hemsworth.
Whatever the structure of the story, fans will likely give J.J. Abrams enough of a chance to make it work. The risk that was taken with the original Star Trek reboot was a huge one. Sending the original series characters down an entirely different timeline was a fairly radical idea. While fans of the franchise could have easily gotten behind the concept, they could have just as easily rejected the reality. Yet, somehow, it all worked and, while we can certainly find some issues with individual parts of the movies, or really the entire second film, the universe is going strong.
The fact that the new movies have found some new and interesting things to do with Star Trek has us very interested to see what J.J. Abrams' idea for Star Trek 4 will actually be. Time travel would be new to the current films, but it's hardly a new idea for Star Trek. We have a feeling, however, that even if the movie does employ time travel, it won't be all that simple.
