Star Trek 4 With Chris Hemsworth Would Have Featured Another Marvel Star

The last "Star Trek" feature film to hit theaters was "Star Trek Beyond" back in 2016, and there has been talk of another sequel in its continuity ever since. "Beyond" was the third film to take place in a parallel "Star Trek" universe, wherein Captain Kirk was played by Chris Pine, and the U.S.S. Enterprise was many times bigger than it was in the original timeline. "Star Trek 4" was being kicked around at the same time Paramount was gearing up for the launch of CBS All Access, later Paramount+, a streaming service that would debut "Star Trek: Discovery," the first new "Star Trek" TV series since 2005. 

It seems, however, that "Star Trek 4" remained in the "kicked around" phase for years. Back in 2016, /Film reported that "Star Trek 4" would be a time travel story that sent Kirk back in time to meet his father, played by Chris Hemsworth in the opening of 2009's "Star Trek" movie. Since then, however, the movie has been burning in development hell, passed from filmmaker to filmmaker with no real progress. At first, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were said to be writing. Then Quentin Tarantino pitched a "Star Trek" movie to J.J. Abrams. At one point, S.J. Clarkson was working on a version, but Pine and Hemsworth were said to have dropped out of that project. Noah Hawley was working on a "Star Trek 4" in 2019, but that one fell through too. Matt Shakman was hired on in 2021, but he dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. 

At last measure, a "Star Trek" prequel film had been announced, to be developed by Simon Kinberg.

Over the course of all these unmade versions of "Star Trek 4," some fun developments were revealed here and there. Notably, back in February, Deadline announced that actress Danai Gurira, star of multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, was going to play a "really cool" role in "Star Trek 4."

Danai Gurira's involvement in "Star Trek 4" dates from the 2018 version being worked on by S.J. Clarkson. Gurira's star was rising in 2018, as she had already been appearing on the hit serues "The Walking Dead" since 2012, and at the time, she was gearing up to appear in "Black Panther," the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gurira would play Okoye, leader of the Wakandan royal guard, a role she would play in three additional films. Were she to appear in "Star Trek 4," she would have starred opposite Hemsworth, who played Thor in eight of the MCU movies, not counting brief cameos. Both actors also appeared together in "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame." 

Gurira, sadly, still wasn't allowed to give details about her "Star Trek" character, other than to say she liked her. More than anything, Gurira was frustrated about how the film stalled out and left her behind. The actress told TrekMovie: 

"I was in talks ... I don't know how far along they were, but that was looking to happen. I was quite excited about it, but then that entire film didn't happen. [...] I was very excited to do it. [My character] was going to be very different from me in many ways. You know, it's 'Star Trek,' man. It was cool ... It was a very exciting idea and story and I was excited about the character."

Gurira was only in talks with Paramount for about a month before a salary dispute with Pine and Hemsworth caused both actors to drop out. So Gurira didn't really make it into "Star Trek" in any kind of meaningful way. More than anything, it's amusing to think that Hemsworth and Gurira would have mutually headlined two major entertainment franchises simultaneously. 

Will "Star Trek 4" ever be made? Will the "prequel film" get in front of cameras? Only time will tell. Given that Paramount has been canceling most of their "Star Trek" TV shows, and has been in talks to merge with Skydance, it's likely audiences will have to wait a long, long time for the answers.