Star Trek 4: Chris Pine Still Hopes to Return

While the Star Trek television universe is expanding, the film series is still trying to figure out its next move. Recent reports suggest three versions of the next Star Trek movie exist. Noah Hawley's pandemic-themed thriller is now on the backburner, while Quentin Tarantino's gangster adventure and the original time travel idea remain on the table. Part of the delay in getting Star Trek 4 into theaters had to do with star Chris Pine, who plays the Kelvin Timeline's Captain James T. Kirk, dropping out of the movie during contract negotiations. In an interview with the new podcast Things Are Going Great For Me, Pine says he still hopes to strike a new deal and reprise his role in the next movie.

"I haven't heard anything," Pine says. "I mean, I get asked these questions all the time. I'm like the last person to find anything out. So, I've heard -- what have I heard? Tarantino is going to do one. And then, who is it? Noah Hawley was going to do something else, and then that fell through. And then he's going to do something with the Discovery, the new Alex Kurtzman-led cast. So, I really don't know. I know that Paramount is coming out of having restructured a bit and kind of a major corporate restructuring. So hopefully, when all that dust settles, something concrete will come out of it, and we'll get to work. I'd love to do it."

These comments are the most Pine's said about the situation since 2018, when he said, "I don't know, man. I'd love to be involved, and we'll see what happens. I'll await the phone call. Until then, I look forward to it."

Paramount first announced Star Trek 4 before Star Trek Beyond opened. The film was to bring back Chris Hemsworth Kirk's father, George Kirk. Star Trek Beyond's disappointing box office made Paramount pump the brakes, but the film eventually went into pre-production with SJ Clarkson set to become the first woman to direct a Star Trek movie. The film stalled again when Pine and Hemsworth dropped out of the project, and Clarkson later left for Game of Thrones.

Reports at the time suggested that the stars left over contract disputes. Hemsworth told a different story. "I didn't feel like we landed on a reason to revisit that yet," Hemsworth said in 2019. "I didn't want to be underwhelmed by what I was going to bring to the table."

(h/t Trek Movie)