Chris Hemsworth Will Return in ‘Star Trek 4’

We’re less than one week away from the release of Star Trek Beyonda movie that has already given us a lot of hope for the future of the franchise – and Paramount has already announced the next sequel. What’s more, they’re dipping into spoiler territory. The studio revealed that Chris Hemsworth, who played Captain Kirk’s father in the 2009 Star Trek reboot, will return in Star Trek 4… even though he’s dead.

This won’t be a flashback either. According to the press release, “In the next installment of the epic space adventure, Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk will cross paths with a man he never had a chance to meet, but whose legacy has haunted him since the day he was born: his father.”

Also: ‘Star Trek’ Beams Down to San Diego Comic-Con 2016

Paramount assures us that Hemsworth will “star alongside Pine” as George Kirk in Star Trek 4, which may indicate that the plot for the next installment will feature time travel… a storytelling device that Star Trek has returned to many times throughout its fifty year history, most recently in 2009’s Star Trek reboot, which killed George Kirk in the first place.

The Star Trek franchise hasn’t been the biggest box office draw in recent years, but the franchise’s built-in audience and pop culture ubiquity has always guaranteed a certain baseline financial return for Paramount. With a new Star Trek television series debuting in 2017, the series may be due for a resurgence in popularity.

But although Chris Hemsworth is returning to the series, it now appears that screenwriters Simon Pegg (who also co-stars as Scotty) and Doug Jung will not be scripting the fourth installment. Instead, Star Trek 4 – which will no doubt acquire a more fanciful title eventually, a la Star Trek Into Darkness – will be written by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who did uncredited rewrites on Star Trek Beyond and are also working on Matthew Vaughn’s upcoming Flash Gordon reboot.

Top Photo: Paramount Pictures

William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.

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