Today is the 54th anniversary of the premiere of the original Star Trek on television. While the show would only run for three seasons, and barely get that, the series would launch one of the most successful science fiction franchises ever. And While Star Trek is doing quite well for itself on its original home of television via a pair of CBS All Access series, and even a brand new animated comedy, the future of Star Trek on the big screen is still a big question.
The Star Trek films which introduced an alternate timeline and a collection of new actors to play the time-honored roles of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest, hasn't seen a new entry, or even a confirmed announcement of one, since Star Trek Beyond debuted in 2016 and while there are, at present, no plans for a fourth film in that series, if Paramount decides it wants to make one, Chris Pine sounds quite excited to get back in the captain's chair.
In a recent appearance on the Things Are Going Great For Me podcast, Chris Pine, who plays Captain James T. Kirk, says that, while he knows nothing about what the future could hold, he would love to play Kirk again if given the chance...
I'm like the last person to find anything out...I know that Paramount is coming out of having restructured a bit and kind of a major corporate restructuring. So hopefully when all that dust settles, something concrete will come out of it and we'll get to work. I'd love to do it.
The "corporate restructuring" that Chris Pine refers to here is the fact that Paramount has a new President in Emma Watts, the former head of 20th Century Fox who left there following the Disney acquisition. It's been reported that one of her top priorities in her new job is figuring out where to go next with the Star Trek franchise. There are multiple options on the table as Legion creator Noah Hawley has recently been working on a script and the project that Quentin Tarantino had been teasing for some time also has a script, though at this point it seems unlikely Tarantino would actually direct it.
While it's not known for sure, it's believed that either of those two ideas would not include the "Kelvin timeline" cast of Chris Pine et al. Of course there is also the project that was initially promised to be the new Star Trek 4, that would see Chris Hemsworth return as George Kirk in a time travel storyline. That project reportedly died after Paramount couldn't get the cost of production down. This included attempts to get both Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth to take a pay cut.
The question isn't really if we'll ever get another Star Trek movie, it's when. Of course, what that movie will look like is also a big question. Most of the existing cast seems interested in coming back, and Star Trek Beyond, was far from a flop, so perhaps Chris Pine will get his chance to return.
