X-Men: Dark Phoenix’s Simon Kinberg is in talks to produce new Star Trek film franchise at Paramount

As Paramount+ is keeping the Star Trek brand going with their new TV iterations, the movie side of the mountain has been hatching a plan to revitalize Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a peaceful future for the big screen. There are multiple projects in development, which include a swan song for the Kelvin Universe crew which began with 2009’s J.J. Abrams Star Trek. Early last year, Abrams teased his Star Trek 4, saying, “I will say it’s the first time [since the original reboot] that we have a story that feels as compelling as the first one.” However, the series star, Chris Pine, is kept in the dark about it, “In Star Trek land, the actors are usually the last people to find out anything. I know costume designers that have read scripts before the actors.” 

Meanwhile, Paramount has also been at work developing a prequel to the 2009 Star Trek that is set to take place decades before the events of that movie. The prequel is set to be helmed by Andor director Toby Haynes and The Hollywood Reporter has now confirmed that Simon Kinberg, who wrote several X-Men movies and directed Dark Phoenix, is in talks to come on board as a producer of this prequel. Seth Grahame-Smith, who penned the upcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, will be writing the screenplay and it is said “to involve the creation of the Starfleet and humankind’s first contact with alien life.” Kinberg’s involvement will not end with the prequel as he is slated to be the overseer of the Star Trek film brand, with Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman heading up the TV department.

While J.J. Abrams concentrates on his own film, he will be billed as a producer on the prequel. There is currently no planned release date. However, Paramount has been angling for a hopeful 2025 opening. Roddenberry Entertainment COO Trevor Roth recently told fans, “I am not able to say much, but I can say that it is Paramount’s intent to figure out the Star Trek side of movies and what’s going on there,” Roth said. “There’s every intent of a new movie coming out in the very near future. There’s a lot of secrecy around what’s going to happen there. But there is a plan getting into place. And we’re very excited to see it return to the big screen.“

Roth continued: “And I will tell you that you want to do it the right way. And yet, practical things get in [the way]. People a lot of times are like, ‘Oh, why isn’t this happening or that happening?’ And sometimes those questions are really good questions. And other times, there’s a lot you don’t know that is happening behind the scenes that can make things more difficult than you would think. So all in all, we’re getting there to my understanding, and we’re excited, and plans are being put in place. And I know that from the standpoint of the studio, there is no lack of recognition of wanting and needing a Star Trek film coming out.“