'Star Trek 4' Will Now Be Written And Directed By Noah Hawley

Here we go again! The fourth entry in the rebooted Star Trek series appears to be back on track, and it's found a new writer-director. Noah Hawley, who created the acclaimed Fargo TV series and directed the not-so-acclaimed film Lucy In the Sky, will write and direct Star Trek 4, which will reportedly bring back crew members Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Karl Urban.

Deadline broke the news about Noah Hawley writing and directing Star Trek 4. They also add that the "understanding is Hawley will helm the fourth film in this iteration of the venerable franchise, with the Enterprise crew led by Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, and Karl Urban."

This implies a major behind-the-scenes shift for the new Trek film. At one point, S.J. Clarkson was set to helm a fourth Star Trek, which would involve some sort of time travel plotline to bring back Chris Hemsworth as the father of Chris Pine's Captain Kirk. But just as things were ramping up, both Pine and Hemsworth walked away from the project, citing salary negotiations. Later, Hemsworth stated that another reason he walked was that he wasn't happy with the script. "I didn't feel like we landed on a reason to revisit that yet," he revealed. "I didn't want to be underwhelmed by what I was going to bring to the table." As the project collapsed, Clarkson moved on. Now, Hawley is stepping in.

Hemsworth isn't mentioned in connection with this new Star Trek 4, which strongly implies that the storyline involving Kirk's father is gone. The fact that Pine is apparently back is another indication that things have changed since the project last fell apart. Meanwhile, Paramount is still allegedly working on a separate, R-rated Star Trek spin-off for Quentin Tarantino to possibly direct, but I'll believe that one when I see it.

This new Star Trek franchise launched with a new 2009 film from J.J. Abrams. While some Trek fans had problems with Abrams' approach, the film was a big hit, and the incredibly likable cast won many audiences over. The 2009 Star Trek was followed with the rather dreadful Star Trek Into Darkness, which Abrams directed in 2013.

After that, Abrams moved on to another Star franchise – Star Wars. The adventures of the new Trek crew continued in 2016 with Star Trek Beyond. That film was quite entertaining, and a big step up from Into Darkness, but it underperformed financially. After the diminishing box office returns the future of the Star Trek movie franchise remained up in the air. Now, it appears to be back on course.