Paramount Skydance scrapping Star Trek 4 means we need Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ spinoff about Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) and Mr. Spock (Ethan Peck) leading the Starship Enterprise even more.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently filming its fifth and final season. Although only a 6-episode season compared to the 10 episodes enjoyed by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seasons 1-4, the game plan is to complete Captain Christopher Pike’s (Anson Mount) five-year mission and pass the Starship Enterprise to Captain Kirk.
Developing Kirk and Spock’s friendship became more prevalent in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 after they officially met in canon in season 2. Paul Wesley’s Kirk and Ethan Peck’s Spock have proven to have their own sparkling chemistry that evokes William Shatner’s Captain Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock.
Understandably, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ executive producers and co-showrunners, Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, want to continue the voyages of the Starship Enterprise with Kirk in the Captain’s chair and Spock by his side. Goldsman and Myers began publicly discussing their spinoff idea during promotion for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3.
The cancellation of Star Trek 4 marks the end of the voyages of Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto’s Mr. Spock in J.J. Abrams’ alternate Kelvin Timeline. It also makes Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers’ spinoff plan even more crucial to Kirk and Spock’s future in Star Trek.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Kirk & Spock Spinoff Plan Explained
Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock’s post-Star Trek: Strange New Worlds spinoff plan is dubbed Star Trek: Year One by Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers. It would be about Captain Kirk’s first year in command of the USS Enterprise.
Goldsman and Myers noted that Star Trek: The Original Series began with James T. Kirk already settled in as Captain of the Enterprise, and some time had passed since Kirk took over the Constitution Class starship from Captain Pike. Star Trek: Year One would fill in the gaps of the earliest part of Kirk’s five-year mission.
However, Goldsman and Myers noted that Star Trek: Year One would not remake existing episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series. Rather, these would be new voyages of Kirk’s Enterprise that show his learning curve as Captain and how Jim gets used to his new crew, which includes Scotty (Martin Quinn), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush).
Star Trek fans were reasonably skeptical when Goldsman and Myers began touting their Star Trek: Year One hopes during their promotional rounds for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3. However, the tide changed after Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
Fans saw the winning potential of Paul Wesley as Captain Kirk teamed with Ethan Peck’s Spock.
Directed by Valerie Weiss and written by David Reed and Bill Wolkoff, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, was a milestone that showed Kirk become acting Captain of the USS Farragut.
Surrounded by Spock, Scotty, Uhura, and Chapel, Jim’s future USS Enterprise crew, fans saw the winning potential of Paul Wesley as Captain Kirk teamed with Ethan Peck’s Spock.
Star Trek: Year One became a more viable and exciting idea after “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail,” and a Paul Wesley-led Star Trek: Strange New Worlds spinoff became a more viable proposition that garnered fan support. Myers and Goldsman reportedly plan to pitch Star Trek: Year One to Paramount+.
No Star Trek 4 Means The End Of Kirk & Spock Movies
Nearly a decade after Star Trek Beyond hit movie screens in 2016, Paramount Skydance’s new management is reportedly “moving on” from Star Trek 4 and putting the Chris Pine-led cast of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek trilogy in mothballs, according to Variety. Rather, Paramount Skydance is looking for “a fresh Star Trek movie.”
Although Star Trek 4 was in development hell for years, with directors like S.J. Clarkson, Matt Shakman, and Quentin Tarantino walking away due to “creative differences,” Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto’s Starship Enterprise cast remained popular, and fans still hoped to see them return in Star Trek 4. It would have been even more compelling to see Pine and Quinto’s middle-aged Kirk and Spock after so many years.
Paramount Skydance scrapping Star Trek 4 effectively ends the second saga of movies centering on Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock’s USS Enterprise. William Shatner’s Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock were the focus of the first six Star Trek movies from 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture to 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
While it’s possible Paramount Skydance could opt for another reboot and recast Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock once again, it seems more likely the next Star Trek movie might be an original creation. However, if it fails critically and/or commercially, the odds increase that Star Trek would go back to drawing water from the Kirk and Spock well.
What Happens To Kirk & Spock If Strange New Worlds Spinoff Doesn’t Happen
After 2027, Star Trek faces a possible future of no more adventures of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock if Star Trek: Year One isn’t greenlit by Paramount+. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto’s Kirk and Spock inadvertently bowed out in 2016, and Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck’s Kirk and Spock could say their goodbyes in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ series finale.
It’s possible that in just two years, Star Trek will go without Kirk and Spock as an onscreen duo once again. Kirk and Spock did not share the screen with new adventures after Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991, and that drought lasted for 18 years until J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) proved those iconic characters could be successfully recast with new actors.
However, if Star Trek: Year One does happen, it would still only be a temporary reprieve for however long the Paul Wesley-led spinoff lasts. Ultimately, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock have enjoyed 60 years of missions on the Starship Enterprise, and their friendship in the 23rd century has been thoroughly explored.
Some Star Trek fans may feel that Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock have had their time, and that Star Trek needs to move forward and create new iconic characters. Yet Kirk and Spock remain at the very heart of Star Trek, and they are the wellspring for everything that followed.
Star Trek: Year One happening has no guarantee, but it’s now the best chance to keep Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock flying the Starship Enterprise after Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ends. Hopefully, Star Trek: Year One can happen as Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck’s Kirk and Spock deserve their chance to be the heart of Star Trek.
- Release Date
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May 5, 2022
- Network
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Paramount+
- Showrunner
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Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman
