The upcomingStar Treksequel has lost its director. Previously, it had been reported thatMatt Shakman, who made a name for himself with the immense success of the Disney+ seriesWandaVision, was set to directStar Trek 4with production gearing up to start in the not-so-distant future. Now, amid new reports of Shakman returning to Marvel Studios to direct the plannedFantastic Fourreboot for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s been announced (viaTHR) that Shakman has resigned fromStar Trek 4.
A statement released by Paramount Pictures reads: “Matt Shakman is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcomingStar Trekfilm. We are grateful for his many contributions, are excited about the creative vision of this next chapter and look forward to bringing it to audiences all around world.”
A sequel to the trilogy of reboot films,Star Trek 4will bring back Chris Pine and other cast members from the first three movies. The screenplay that Shakman was going to use to helmStar Trek 4comes from Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires following a previous draft by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. At this point, there is said to be a search for a new director that is underway, as the goal is to get the film into theaters by December 2023.
Losing its director is certainly a setback forStar Trek 4, but it remains to be seen if this will result in a release date delay. In any case, it’s been a long time coming with getting anotherStar Trekmovie back on the big screen. There had been other reboots considered with Quentin Tarantino and Noah Hawley attached to potentially direct aStar Trekmovie at different points, but none of those efforts would ultimately materialize. Perhaps Paramount noticed that there was still a lot of fan demand forStar Trek 4, resulting in this current incarnation of the film finally making some traction, barring this new hiccup with Shakman.
Star Trek 4is currently scheduled to be released on Jun 21, 2025.
Related:Every Star Trek TV Series, Ranked
Fantastic Four Will Reboot the Team for the MCU
Meanwhile, theFantastic Fourreboot has also been slowly moving forward. There’s still a lot about the project that remains unknown, such as who might be playing the characters in the titular team. John Krasinski appeared as a version of Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but as that was a variant, that does not necessarily mean he will also be playing the character in theFantastic Fourfilm. What we do know is that it won’t be yet another origin story.
“A lot of people know this origin story,” Marvel head Kevin Feige has said. “A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before? We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen.”
The film is set to hit theaters on Aug 16, 2025.
