Following the report on Friday morning that WandaVision director Matt Shakman is in the running to helm Marvel’s upcoming Fantastic Four film, it’s now being reported that he’ll be leaving the fourth Star Trek reboot film as a result. Previously, Shakman was announced as the film’s director in summer 2021 after he jumped to everyone’s attention by directing all of WandaVision.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Shakman had to drop out of Star Trek 4 because of the scheduling conflict. A statement from Paramount reads, “Matt is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcoming Star Trek film. 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 search has now begun for a new director, but it’s not clear if the film will be pushed back from its original Christmas 2023 release.
Paramount’s been trying to get a Star Trek 4 off the ground for some time now, even going so far as to have producer JJ Abrams outright declare it was happening before actually signing on the actors of the reboot franchise. Before Shakman had signed on, the film was originally meant to be directed by Jessica Jones’ SJ Clarkson before those plans fell through due to alleged issues with contract negotiations. Chris Pine has said before that he’d be down to come back, but it looks like the stars have yet to align to make it so.
But given all the effort being made to do a new Trek film, is it worth it at this point? The franchise has had much better luck with television, where it’s thriving in both live action and animation. Maybe it’s time for Paramount to accept that and let sleeping starships lie.
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