Star Trek 4 moves forward as Paramount taps S.J. Clarkson to direct

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Fresh off the revelation from CinemaCon that Paramount Pictures is developing two STAR TREK movies, comes the news from Variety that the studio has tapped S.J. Clarkson with directing the next installment of the STAR TREK franchise. A prolific television director, Clarkson has helmed episodes of Heroes, Dexter, Banshee, Orange is the New Black, Jessica Jones, and The Defenders, and her hiring also marks a franchise first as she will be the first woman to helm a STAR TREK movie.

Details on the fourth film in the J.J. Abrams STAR TREK series are sparse, but we do know that Chris Hemsworth will be back to reprise the role of George Kirk, the man who sacrificed his life so that his crew and family could escape safely from Nero in STAR TREK. This will allow Chris Pine's Captain Kirk to "cross paths with a man he never had a chance to meet, but whose legacy has haunted him since the day he was born: his father." The script has been penned by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, but those of you hoping that Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK project would be the next film will be pleased to know that it's still in the cards. Variety's sources say the Tarantino script is still being written and that it will come after the fourth movie.

As curious as I am about Tarantino's take on STAR TREK, I am pleased that we'll be getting at least one more adventure with the J.J. Abrams crew; in fact, Abrams went so far as to call the STAR TREK 4 story his favourite of the rebooted franchise shorty after it was first announced.

So one of the reasons that I’m hoping [Star Trek Beyond] does well is so that we can, without question, get that movie made. It really is an amazing story. It’s really the reason we made the deal with Chris Hemsworth as soon as we could because we really wanted that story to be told, so fingers crossed. [It's my] favorite Star Trek story that we've had.

Quentin Tarantino's potential take on the franchise came about when he approached J.J. Abrams with a "great idea" for a STAR TREK  movie. Excited by the pitch, Abrams put together a writer's room and Mark L. Smith (THE REVENANT) was chosen to move forward with an R-rated script while Tarantino works on ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD.