It was announced last month that Paramount was hoping to start production on Star Trek 4 by the end of the year and bring back the original cast of Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Karl Urban as McCoy, John Cho as Sulu, and Simon Pegg as Scotty. However, it seems that the studio didn’t clue the actors in as they were said to be blindsided by the announcement.
While all of the actors seem excited at the thought of returning, there may be a few scheduling issues to work out due to how long it took Paramount to start talking with the cast. While speaking with Variety, Karl Urban said that although he would love to return for Star Trek 4, he may not be available as he’s set to shoot the fourth season of The Boys through the end of the year.
I’m shooting The Boys through the end of the year. So, I literally don’t know. I would love to work with those guys again. They are so much fun. The best hang. We’ll see.
Star Trek 4 has already been slated for a December 22, 2023 release which makes sense if Paramount does plan on starting the movie by the end of the year. As Karl Urban’s Doctor McCoy is one of my favourite elements of the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies, I can only hope that a scheduling accommodation can be reached or that the overlap between the two productions is brief. We need Dr. McCoy!
In a statement 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.” It was announced last year that the Star Trek sequel would be helmed by WandaVision director Matt Shakman. He’s also been supervising a draft by Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires, based off a draft by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. As for The Boys, the third season will premiere on Prime Video on June 3, 2022.