Matt Shakman will no longer direct Star Trek 4

The allure of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is greater than the final frontier. WandaVision director Matt Shakman signed on to direct Star Trek 4 last year, but with the recent news that he’s in talks to direct the new Fantastic Four movie for Marvel Studios, he’s decided to drop out of the Star Trek movie.

“Matt Shakman is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcoming Star Trek film,” Paramount Pictures said in a statement to THR. “We are grateful for his many contributions, are excited about the creative vision of this next chapter and look forward to bringing it to audiences all around world.” With Matt Shakman out, the search for a new director will begin immediately, but it’s not yet clear if Star Trek 4 will still make its December 22, 2023 release.

Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires wrote the most recent script for Star Trek 4, working on a previous draft by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. When the project was first announced, J.J. Abrams said, “We are thrilled to say that we are hard at work on a new ‘Star Trek’ film that will be shooting by the end of the year that will be featuring our original cast and some new characters that I think are going to be really fun and exciting and help take ‘Star Trek’ into areas that you’ve just never seen before. We’re thrilled about this film, we have a bunch of other stories that we’re talking about that we think will be really exciting so can’t wait for you to see what we’re cooking up. But until then, live long and prosper.” This means Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Karl Urban as McCoy, John Cho as Sulu, and Simon Pegg as Scotty. However, the news came as a shock to the cast, who hadn’t been informed of their involvement.

It’s been six years since the release of Star Trek Beyond. While the franchise has been thriving on the small-screen thanks to Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, I know many fans are eager to see another big screen Star Trek adventure. Now that Matt Shakman has jumped over to Fantastic Four, who do you think should direct Star Trek 4?