Star Trek 4 gets a promising new update from Zachary Quinto, with the Spock actor revealing that it could be the last one for this crew. After decades of TV episodes and movies, J. J. Abrams ushered in the Kelvin Timeline with 2009’s Star Trek, a movie that introduced Chris Pine as USS Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk.

After Star Trek Beyond underperformed in 2016, the franchise’s future was unclear for a time, but Paramount officially announced Star Trek 4 in early 2022. Three years later, though, and the movie is seemingly no closer to actually happening.

During a recent interview with Collider, Quinto addresses the status of Star Trek 4, making clear that the project, for now, remains stuck in development. The actor is, however, eager to return, and he says it could be more likely to move forward following the Skydance and Paramount merger. Check out his comment below:

“I would absolutely love to do another Star Trek movie. I don’t understand why we haven’t done one yet, but hopefully now that the Skydance and Paramount merger is moving forward – Skydance was the financier of all the Star Trek movies that we’ve done so far and have been great partners in those films – and I would love to revisit it. I think all of us would.

It’s been 10 years since we made the last movie, and nine years since it came out, and I do think that it would be a really wonderful way to close that chapter of the story and the characters that we’ve all come to love and come to enjoy inhabiting as much as we have. I think it would be really wonderful.”

If a fourth film does happen, Quinto suggests it will be the final outing for the Kelvin Timeline Enterprise crew. Even though the Spock actor doesn’t have any concrete announcements about the movie, he does reveal that he recently got in touch with Abrams about getting the band back together:

“I actually just emailed J.J. this week to say, ‘Hey, this would be really exciting.’ I think fans would be really open to it and really welcome a final movie. We’ve been talking about it for long enough that it seems like time to move it forward. So, I’m beating that drum as much as I can.

I think it would be really great to do a fourth movie, and let’s make it happen. There are so many possibilities in the stories we could tell. I think there’s something really wonderful about coming back to characters that we all have a history with, and we all have a real deep connection to, and a fond relationship with. I hope that we can, and I hope that we do.”

What This Means For Star Trek 4

Various writers and directors have been attached to Star Trek 4 over the past few years, including Matt Shakman, who departed the project to direct this summer’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. A report from spring 2024 claimed that Steve Yockey was penning the script for the fourth installment, but, 18 months later, it’s not clear if that is still the case.

Quinto’s update suggests Abrams and the creative team may be no closer to actually cracking the script, raising questions about whether the film will end up happening at all. Like Quinto says, it’s been almost 10 years since Beyond, and there probably is a time limit to how long a fourth film has before Paramount opts to just do a full reboot.

That being said, Quinto isn’t alone in his optimism and enthusiasm, and that could help get the movie off the ground. Pine is perhaps the most notable Star Trek cast member to express interest in returning, and he’s joined by Scotty actor Simon Pegg, Uhura actor Zoe Saldaña, and McCoy actor Karl Urban.

With so many core Enterprise crew members open to reprising their roles in a fourth and final Star Trek movie, it could just be a matter of time before the film actually happens. If it does, though, it’s probably still three or four years away at the earliest, meaning audiences could be looking at quite a gap between releases.

Our Take On Zachary Quinto’s Star Trek 4 Update

Even though Beyond may have underperformed, the three Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movies are a lot of fun, and the cast is one of the movies’ major strengths. It would be great to see Quinto, Pine, Saldaña, and Pegg, among others, return for one more adventure.

As for the story, Pine and Pegg have expressed interest in the next movie going smaller in scope with a more stripped back story, and this could be a great way to approach things. It’s unclear if the film will actually end up happening, but Quinto’s enthusiasm could be a sign that more Star Trek 4 news is coming.