Zoe Saldana is keeping the faith that Paramount will bring her back as the Kelvin Timeline’s Lt. Uhura alongside her franchise castmates in Star Trek 4.
“I still have hope. I had a wonderful experience through and through and through the three times that I was a part of that team,” Saldana said during an appearance on The Discourse podcast (per The Playlist). “I know that they’re always trying to sort of aim to wrangle everybody together, but I also know that Paramount is working on a new sort of fresh take on ‘Star Trek,’ which I think is such a wonderful franchise that should live for a very long time, whether or not us as the original remake cast can come back. I don’t know, but I certainly hope so.”
Star Trek movie franchise producer J.J. Abrams announced the fourth Kelvin Timeline installment before the release of 2016’s Star Trek Beyond with the plan to bring back Chris Hemsworth to play George Kirk. Following Beyond’s box office underperformance, Star Trek 4 suffered numerous setbacks with director changes, script issues, and negotiations with Hemsworth as well as Captain James. T. Kirk actor Chris Pine falling apart. In 2021, Matt Shakman (WandaVision) was announced as the new director for Star Trek 4 with production announced a year later without the cast’s knowledge. Shakman eventually departed the sequel to take on director duties for Marvel Studios’ upcoming Fantastic Four reboot.
Saldana’s co-star Zachary Quinto addressed Star Trek 4’s delays with a less than optimistic view about returning to the franchise as Spock. “It’s complicated,” Quinto said. “The fact that anything good gets made is kind of a miracle. I think it’s about different people having different agendas and ideas about what it will be. And I don’t know if and when it will happen… And if it coalesces again and we come back and we’re able to do it, wonderful. If not, we had a great run.”
Star Trek’s theatrical future
Recently, Paramount hired a new Star Trek 4 screenwriter in Steve Yockey, the co-creator of the successful Max series The Flight Attendant. Additionally, the studio is in early development on a reboot separate from Star Trek 4 by writer Seth Grahame-Smith and director Toby Haynes. On the small screen, production has wrapped on the Michelle Yeoh-led Star Trek: Section 31, where the Oscar-winning star reprises her role as Philippa Georgiou from the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. The Paramount+ exclusive movie does not have a release date.
Star Trek 4 does not have a release date.
