Chris Pine and J.J. Abrams collaborated to introduce the suave Starfleet captain James T. Kirk to a whole new generation of fans with the Star Trek films. Beginning in 2009, the reboot saw Pine play the iconic character along with Zachary Quinto playing the role of Spock. The duo starred together in three films.
While a fourth film has been in development for a long time, with many directors changing, Pine mentioned that he heard rumors about the fourth film being the last of the franchise. However, the actor also mentioned that Paramount was making a mistake by ending the franchise and was looking at its fandom the wrong way.
Chris Pine Opened Up About The Star Trek Films Ending After The Fourth One
While the Star Trek franchise has been leading on the small screen, with multiple successful spinoff shows, the franchise’s big-screen endeavors seem to be struggling. Despite J.J. Abrams’ film reboot doing good at the box office, the fourth film of the franchise has been facing many hurdles to come to fruition.
After multiple filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Noah Hawley, and Matt Shakman being attached to the project at various intervals, the film is currently in limbo. A film centered on Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Philippa Georgiou called Section 31 is the only feature film in active development.
Chris Pine, who played James T. Kirk in the Abrams films mentioned that he was excited to portray the character again and wanted to join his friends. He also mentioned that he had heard that the fourth film of the franchise would be the last. He said to Uproxx,
I think it’d be a lot of fun. And as I’ve said, I think there’s a journey with this group of people and this… They’ve said that it’s the last one that they’re making as we’re aging out, this cast. It’s a pity that they’re saying it’s the last one. Because I think there are a lot of great stories to tell.
Pine mentioned that there were still many stories to tell in the franchise and that the studio was looking at the IP in the wrong way.
Chris Pine Criticized Paramount’s Direction With Star Trek
Since the 1960s, Star Trek has established itself as a worthy competitor to multiple sci-fi franchises, including Star Wars. While George Lucas’ space opera has been a great big-screen attraction and has earned billions of dollars, the Gene Roddenberry-created franchise has made itself home on TV.
However, the studio, Paramount Pictures still seems to be aiming at tackling biggies like Marvel and Star Wars with its IP and will reportedly reboot the film franchise after the fourth entry. Chris Pine mentioned on multiple occasions that this was the wrong decision for the franchise as its fandom was different. He said to Esquire,
I always thought, ‘Why aren’t we just appealing to this really rabid fan group and making the movie for a good price and going on our merry way, instead of trying to compete with the Marvels of the world?’ After the last one came out and didn’t do the $1 billion that everybody wanted it to do, and then Anton…passed away…
The franchise faced a significant blow when actor Anton Yelchin passed away in 2016. The fourth film has since been in development hell.
Star Trek is currently available to stream on Paramount+.
