X-Men Producer in Talks to Relaunch Star Trek Movie Franchise

Looks like the bumpy road to more Star Trek films is getting even more complicated. THR is reporting that the franchise is being taken over by X-Men producer Simon Kinberg, who is in talks with the studio right now.

While Paramount has been running pretty strong with the Star Trek franchise on television, with a slew of new shows both on air and in the works, the film side of the franchise has stalled out after the release of Star Trek Beyond, the third film in the rebooted Kelvin Timeline that stars Chris Pine as Captain Kirk. While that series’ fourth film is evidently still in the works as a kind of swan song for the cast and crew, Kinberg will be overseeing a new run of movies that he will have creative control over on the film side.

This new take on Star Trek will start with the already in-development film that Toby Haynes (Andor) is on board to direct from a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith. That film, which will now have Kinberg overseeing it, is said to take place decades before the current slate of films and focus on the start of Starfleet and humanity’s first contact with alien life. For people who care about canon, that would place the film outside of the Kelvin Timeline, as the events of the 2009 film that launched that series occurred long after those moments. However, it would also deal with subjects covered not only in Star Trek: First Contact but also in Star Trek: Enterprise. Could a third timeline be launched here?

Whatever the case, Kinberg will be in charge of the film side of the franchise, which may be concerning to some. While he helped shepherd the X-Men franchise into existence, when he had full creative control, he drove it into the ground quickly and eventually directed the abysmal Dark Phoenix. Not exactly a solid history of success.