English actor, comedian, and screenwriter Simon Pegg dropped some huge news during Creation Entertainment’s annual Trek to Vegas convention in Las Vegas. On the same day, Skydance and Paramount closed their $8 billion merger, making Skydance’s David Ellison the new Chairman and CEO. During a panel on August 7th, Pegg explained how Ellison may help bring the long-awaited 4th “Star Trek” film in the Kelvin Universe to fruition.
Pegg has starred as Scotty in the three previous films in this branch of the long-running sci-fi franchise. Starting with 2009’s “Star Trek” and 2013’s “Into Darkness” directed/produced by J.J. Abrams, followed by 2016’s “Beyond” directed by Justin Lin with Abrams producing.
“Well, I know David Ellison is a big “Star Trek” fan,” Pegg explained. “I know he cares about the series. So I would love it. I would be delighted if we could make another film. I love those guys. And despite how we had a tragedy in our group [Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov, passed away in 2016], which was extremely painful. It would be wonderful to come together again. J.J. has always said that there are scripts being developed and this and that. I think it’s about time. It would be great to see us 10 years after the five-year mission, where we are.”
Prior to the merger, Paramount and Skydance partnered for “Into Darkness” and “Beyond” with Ellison working as an executive producer. Adding some hope to him, focusing more on “Star Trek” soon.
Obstacles For a 4th Kelvin Universe Film
Getting the star-studded cast, including Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Chris Pine, and John Cho, back may be a hurdle given their busy schedules. But as Pegg points out, friendship means everything.
“If we make another Star Trek, I’ll be so happy because I just want to see my friends again. I see them occasionally,” he said lovingly. “They all live in Los Angeles. I saw Zoe this year, which was lovely. I saw Karl a couple of times when I was working on “The Boys.” But I miss Chris and I miss John… We’ve been through a lot together. We’ve been through good times, bad times. And I would love to be able to hang out with those guys again.”
Another issue may be “Beyond” underperforming at the box office while having a higher budget than its predecessors. An issue Pegg thinks poor marketing can explain.
“Beyond didn’t perform as well as we wanted it to. I personally think the marketing wasn’t quite right,” he adds. “I felt like they were almost frightened. It was the 50th anniversary of “Star Trek.” It was a perfect moment to celebrate the entirety of “Star Trek” and lean into that. But they kind of didn’t. Some of the posters, you couldn’t even tell what the film was. It just said ‘Beyond’ and then the Enterprise. It wasn’t going to draw anybody new in.”
We’ll keep you posted on updates about a possible 4th Kelvin Universe “Star Trek” film as the project develops.
