‘Star Trek’ Origin Story Movie Set From ‘Andor’ Director, ‘Star Trek 4’ Still in the Works as ‘Final Chapter’ of Main Series

A new “Star Trek” film is in the works at Paramount with “Andor’s” Toby Haynes on board to direct and Seth Grahame-Smith penning the script, Variety has confirmed.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, the upcoming feature will be an origin story that is set decades before 2009’s “Star Trek,” as well as an expansion of the “Star Trek” universe. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot is producing.

Meanwhile, the fourth installment of the rebooted “Star Trek” film series remains in development, with the studio describing it as the “final chapter.” In the third film, 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond,” the crew of the USS Enterprise crash-lands on a mysterious world after being attacked by the lizard-like dictator Krall (Idris Elba).

A fourth “Star Trek” movie starring Chris Pine was first announced in July of 2016, with Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho and Simon Pegg expected to return. Chris Hemsworth, who appeared in the 2009 original, was set to return to the space saga as George Kirk, the father of Captain James T. Kirk (Pine). According to Paramount at the time, “Star Trek 4” would see Pine’s Captain Kirk cross paths with his father, who was “a man he never had a chance to meet, but whose legacy has haunted him since the day he was born.”

During a Paramount Global investors day presentation in February of 2022, Abrams announced that a new “Star Trek” movie would begin shooting by the end of that year with the Pine-led crew. Pine and his co-stars reportedly had no idea Paramount was moving forward with another “Star Trek” film, which was eventually removed from the studio’s film slate in September of that year.

Haynes recently directed six episodes of the “Star Wars” series “Andor,” starring Diego Luna as the titular role. He also helmed the “Star Trek”-inspired episode of “Black Mirror,” titled “USS Callister.” Haynes is repped by WME and attorney Peter Nelson.

Grahame-Smith is best known as the author of the best-selling novels “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” He also wrote and produced 2017’s “The Lego Batman Movie.” Grahame-Smith is repped by WME and attorneys PJ Shapiro and Wendy Kirk.