Deadline Hollywood reports that “WandaVision” showrunner and director Matt Shakman has signed on to direct the next “Star Trek” film for Paramount Pictures and JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot.
Paramount is fast-tracking “Star Trek 4” with principal photography set to commence in Spring 2022. The latest script is written by Lindsey Beer (“Chaos Walking”) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (“Captain Marvel”, “Tomb Raider”).
The plan for “Star Trek 4” is to reunite the original cast from JJ Abrams’ rebooted “Star Trek” films which starred Chris Pine (“Hell or High Water”), Zoe Saldana (“Avatar”), Karl Urban (“The Boys”), Simon Pegg (“Shaun of the Dead”), John Cho (“Cowboy Bebop”), and Zachary Quinto (“NOS4A2”). Actor Anton Yelchin, who played the youngest Enterprise crew member, Chekov, passed away in 2016.
Paramount has made previous attempts to release a new “Star Trek” film over the past few years with the project at one point being developed by Oscar-winning director Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”) with screenwriter Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”) and “FX’s Fargo” creator/showrunner Noah Hawley, who also wrote a script treatment and was in line to direct as well.
Shakman is coming off Marvel Studios-Disney Plus series, WandaVision”, which scored a record 23 Emmy nominations. Shakman’s previous credits include directing Hulu’s limited Dramedy series, “The Great”, episodes of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, “FX’s Fargo” and HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”