Star Trek 4 Back on with Noah Hawley

It looks like the USS Enterprise could be dusting off its warp nacelles and preparing for another space voyage, with the news that Paramount is reportedly in final talks with Noah Hawley to write and direct a new Star Trek film.

Hawley is best known for writing and showrunning two of the most well-received TV series in recent years – the Emmy-winning Fargo, a spin-off of the Coen brothers’ 1996 film, and Legion, the Marvel-inspired psychological thriller set in the Fox X-Men universe. He’s also recently made his feature film debut with the Natalie Portman-starring astronaut drama Lucy In The Sky.

Deadline reported that discussions between Hawley and the studio are in the final stages, and that – while nothing relating to the content of the film has been confirmed – it is understood that the project will likely be the fourth instalment in the rebooted big-screen Trek franchise, featuring regular cast members Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Simon Pegg (Scotty) and Karl Urban (Bones).

The most recent entry in the series was 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, directed by veteran Fast & Furious franchise helmer Justin Lin (who’s currently working on the ninth installment of that film series). Beyond underperformed at the box office, taking $343.5 million worldwide against a $185 million production budget, but was met with generally positive reviews.

Initial sequel rumblings seemed to pitch a timey-wimey story in which a grown-up Kirk meets his dead father George, played once again by Star Trek‘s Chris Hemsworth, but the project looked to have been shelved earlier this year. Whether or not Hawley’s potential Star Trek 4 might pick up that plot thread remains to be seen.

Paramount is also reportedly developing Quentin Tarantino’s R-rated Trek spin-off, although there’s still no indication of when, or indeed if, that will actually happen.

We’ll bring you more big-screen Trek news as we have it.