Star Trek prequel to 2009 film in development with Andor director
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it will be set decades before the JJ Abrams films.
Toby Haynes had a major hand in helping to revitalise one of the biggest sci-fi franchises in the world by serving as lead director on the Star Wars spin-off series Andor – and now it looks like he's in line to do the same with another major franchise.
The director – who also has credits on five Doctor Who episodes and two Black Mirror instalments – is reportedly set to helm a new Star Trek prequel film, which would mark his feature debut.
According to Deadline, the film will be produced by JJ Abrams and written by The LEGO Batman Movie scribe Seth Grahame-Smith, and will be set several decades before Abrams's 2009 Star Trek film, although more specific plot details are being kept under wraps.
Meanwhile, the same publication also reports that development on a fourth chapter in the main series – the last entry of which was Star Trek: Beyond in 2016 – is still ongoing.
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Star Trek 4 was confirmed some time ago but has had a troubled development history, with various big-name creatives – including Quentin Tarantino and Noah Hawley – linked with the director's chair at different points.
In early 2022, it was revealed that WandaVision's Matt Shakman had been hired to take the reins for the new instalment with a release date of 2023 planned, but he subsequently pulled out due to a scheduling conflict, and the film was removed from the release calendar.
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It is not currently clear who will direct the next film or when it might arrive in cinemas, but the news that the project is still at least in active development will be encouraging to fans.
Despite the lack of new films in the last few years, the Star Trek franchise has been thriving on the small screen recently, with shows such as Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds all having been received enthusiastically by both fans and critics.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
