With Star Trek Beyond set to debut in theaters later this week, Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Bad Robot today announced that the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise will return to the big screen for another voyage in Star Trek 4. In the next installment of the epic space adventure, Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk will cross paths with a man he never had a chance to meet, but whose legacy has haunted him since the day he was born: his father, played by Chris Hemsworth.
Hemsworth, who appeared in 2009’s Star Trek as the character, will return to the space saga as George Kirk to star alongside Pine. The remaining cast is also expected to return.
J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay will write the screenplay. J.J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber will produce through Bad Robot Productions. David Ellison and Dana Goldberg of Skydance will executive produce. No director or release date have been confirmed for the film.
Star Trek, the first film in the rebooted franchise based on “Star Trek,” created by Gene Roddenberry, earned more than $380 million worldwide in 2009. The second installment, Star Trek Into Darkness, earned more than $460 million worldwide when it opened in May 2013. The series’ third film, Star Trek Beyond, is directed by Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise) and opens in theaters on July 22.
Hemsworth can currently be seen in Ghostbusters alongside Melissa McCarthy, Kristin Wiig and Kate McKinnon, and is currently filming Thor: Ragnarok, reprising his role as the God of Thunder, before immediately making the leap to Avengers: Infinity War Part 1.
