Paramount Beams Aboard Steve Yockey To Write Fourth and Last ‘Star Trek’ Film Produced by J.J. Abrams

While Paramount+ Star Trek series such as Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continue to live long and prosper, a fourth J.J. Abrams-produced Star Trek theatrical movie keeps beaming up new writers and holding up production. The newest candidate to try to get the Enterprise and her crew in the air is Steve Yockey, who created Max’s The Flight Attendant.

According to Variety, the as-yet-untitled Star Trek 4 would conclude the rebooted series that began in 2009 with J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. That film introduced Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura, Simon Pegg as Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, John Cho as Hikaru Sulu, and Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016’s Star Trek Beyond followed, both featuring the same Enterprise crew. Yelchin died in a tragic accident in 2016 and is the only cast member not expected to return for Star Trek 4.

At Least Six Writers Were Attached to ‘Star Trek 4′

Paramount has hired at least six writers to write Star Trek 4 since 2016. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were first on deck, but negotiations fell apart and Paramount scrapped their script. Next came Fargo and Alien series writer Noah Hawley, who reportedly said his original idea got trashed due to a managerial change. Prison Break and Star Trek: Discovery writer Kalinda Vazquez signed on next and, according to Variety, that movie is still on the back burner but is not Star Trek 4. Just last year, Lindsey Beer (Pet Sematary: Bloodlines) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) were preparing a script with Matt Shakman set to direct. That last writer-director combo fell apart when Shakman left to turn his attention to The Fantastic Four reboot.

According to Variety, “Yockey’s involvement is the most promising sign of forward momentum the project has had since. The playwright started his TV writing career on the MTV series Awkward and Scream, before joining the writing staff of Supernatural for four seasons. His latest series, the Sandman universe adaptation Dead Boy Detectives, will premiere on Netflix in April.”

While Trekkies wait to find out if Yockey will stick as screenwriter, the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery will premiere April 4 on Paramount+. The season will consist of 10 episodes, the first 2 of which debut on April 4. Watch the season five trailer below.