Star Trek Into Darkness' Bruce Greenwood Has An Idea To Bring Pike Back

Since 2016, "Star Trek" has seen some dramatic ups and downs. The two Kelvin-verse "Star Trek" movies made by J.J. Abrams in 2009 and 2013 were big hits, catching a mass audience's eye with their high-octane action and sexy young casts. Justin Lin's 2016 sequel "Star Trek Beyond" wasn't as big a hit as Paramount would have liked, however, and the future of the "Star Trek" film franchise was thrown into question. It didn't help that "Star Trek: Discovery" launched in 2017 (as the flagship series for the CBS All Access streaming service), bringing the Trek franchise back to the "Prime" timeline. 

"Star Trek 4," as it has been nicknamed, has ping-ponged a lot during its development. Multiple directors passed through the project, and the film was even once removed from Paramount's development slate entirely. In January 2024, however, it seemed that the project was back on. 

Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood), previously captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, played a notable role in Abrams' two "Star Trek" film, being a parental figure to Chris Pine's James T. Kirk. It was Pike who encouraging Kirk to apply to Starfleet Academy and become a disciplined officer. Sadly, in 2013's "Star Trek Into Darkness," Pike was lured into an unsuspected trap by Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) and assassinated. Kirk was saddened by the death of his mentor. Those who liked the character would have to wait until he reappeared on "Discovery," now played by Anson Mount.

Greenwood, however, recently expressed interest in returning to the role, despite Pike's death. In a 2013 interview with StarTrek.com, Greenwood figured there was still a tasteful way for Pike to come back from the dead. 

Many Trekkies were a little miffed by a plot point in "Star Trek Into Darkness" that seems to fundamentally alter the way life would function in "Star Trek." At the end of the film, Kirk dies of radiation poisoning, having entered a dangerous area of the Enterprise's engine room to repair a vital system. Despite having been dead for an extended period, his corpse is injected with genetically altered blood extracted from Khan, and he springs back to life. Khan's blood also served as a cure for a young girl's incurable disease earlier in the film. Even if Khan's blood only cured certain ailments, the fact that it can cease disease and bring people back from the dead would revolutionize medicine. The "Star Trek" movies won't ever face those consequences. 

Greenwood knew that Pike shouldn't be physically resurrected, but he did envision scenes where he would be able to mentor Kirk again, even from beyond the grave. In Greenwood's vision, Pike would essentially appear in flashbacks or fantasy sequences. He wanted Pike to be a ghostly memory, more or less. He used the term "memory lane." Greenwood said: 

"My not-so-secret wish is that somehow there's a memory lane scene where Pike gets to come back and talk to Kirk in some way. I don't think they can give me a drop of Khan's blood because that would render my death somewhat meaningless if they could reanimate me. But of course I'm hoping they'll reach into memory lane and bring me back." 

It's unclear if Greenwood would want his new scenes to take place in the past, or if he would appear in Kirk's mind as a mere piece of the younger captain's imagination. Either way, Greenwood could come back to film for a few days. 

Greenwood is not stranger to playing death scenes. The actor has appeared in over 100 movies and TV shows in his career, having started acting professionally in 1979. He's been shot, thrown down stairs, exploded, and killed in various ways. Playing Pike's death was easy for him, and he was grateful he had a "final words" moment opposite Spock, played by Zachary Quinto. Greenwood said:

"I've done a handful of [death scenes]. I've done some violent ones, where you get sort of yanked across the room and tumble down stairs or you get blown up or burned ... all kinds of things. This one was different because I got to have that moment with Zach. So we got a chance to go out somewhat slowly, and I really had something to play."

The fate of "Star Trek 4" is still way, way up in the air, and only time will tell if it gets made. The future of the Kelvin series is likely further in question after the recent merger between Paramount and Skydance. In recent years, Paramount has been sextupling down on "Star Trek" TV shows, to the point where the company overspent on it; of the eight shows that have launched or been announced since 2017, only two or three have survived. Greenwood may still be game to return to Pike over a decade after "Into Darkness," but his return is going to be predicated on whether or not any "Star Trek" movies get made at all. 

Time will tell, but it's not looking promising.