Simon Kinberg seemed to be doing a good job controlling X-Men over at 20th Century Fox… until they let him direct an installment. That was Dark Phoenix and we all know how that turned out. Yesterday the news broke that Paramount are in talks with Kinberg over Star Trek.
They want him to produce one of the new Star Trek movies that are in the pipeline, and to be the Star Trek head honcho, overseeing the cinematic world of Starfleet. The big screen equivalent of Alex Kurtzman’s role on television.
It appears that this will overtake any fourth outing of the Kelvin-verse crew of the Enterprise as that continually faces scheduling issues die to the large, busy cast who are also still expensive.
Puck News reports that a 2025 start date is set for the new project and that it is an “origin story” set in the late 22nd/early 23rd century, which is around the time of Enterprise and a century before Kirk’s five-year mission.
Various rumors state that this will deal with mankind’s first contact with aliens and the birth of Starfleet and the Federation. Wasn’t this the plot for First Contact and Enterprise? Do they care? Do they even know?
Ahhhh, here is the rub. It is a “Reboot” opportunity that, should it go well, will be used to reboot Trek for the big screen. Hold up… wasn’t that Star Trek (2009)?
Yet another prequel and reboot, despite the best-received modern Trek seemingly being Picard Season 3 that actually went forward in the timeline, not backward. Then again, Discovery also went forward, and look what happened to that!
British TV director Toby Haynes, who shot the prison-set episodes of Andor, remains set as the director.
In other Star Trek news, across on television for Paramount+ Holly Hunter has snagged the lead role in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Hunter’s character will be the chancellor of the Academy, and will preside over both the faculty and a new class of Starfleet cadets learning to navigate the Starfleet of the 32nd century, which is where Discovery ended up.
Co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau said in a statement:
“It feels like we’ve spent our entire lives watching Holly Hunter be a stone-cold genius. To have her extraordinary authenticity, fearlessness, sense of humor, and across-the-board brilliance leading the charge on ‘Starfleet Academy’ is a gift to all of us, and to the enduring legacy of Star Trek.”
Gaia Violo, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber executive produce this show.
Of course, none of this may actually happen if a deal for Paramount goes through, as whoever is the incoming new owners will want to look very closely at flagship IP like Star Trek.
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