It Sounds Like The Star Trek Kelvin Timeline Is Truly And Officially Dead

Despite a stacked cast of A-list talent, an entire trilogy that delivered solid box office returns, and no shortage of fervent demand among Trekkies, the inevitable seems to have just become official: The so-called Kelvin timeline "Star Trek" movies appear to be no more. Unfortunately, a report indicates that the newly-merged Paramount/Skydance studio has decided to call it quits on those attempts to bring back the cast led by Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldaña, John Cho, and Simon Pegg. The disappointing news comes after years of stalled development (and the occasional lukewarm "Star Trek 4" update) since the last big-screen outing for the franchise came and went with 2016's "Star Trek Beyond."

Variety buried this little nugget about the future of "Star Trek" amid a larger profile about CEO David Ellison's intentions for Paramount as a whole, revealing that those of us still holding out for at least a fourth theatrical film in the franchise can finally begin the process of going through the stages of grief. To be absolutely clear, the studio remains committed to more "Star Trek" in the years ahead — both on Paramount+ streaming and the big screen. However, those plans apparently won't include a reunion and possible swan song for the fan-favorite ensemble. According to the Variety article:

The hope is to have a fresh 'Star Trek' movie, though the studio has moved on from the idea of bringing back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest of the ensemble from the J.J. Abrams reboot.

Don't cry because it might be over, smile because it happened ... or something like that. To be entirely fair, this "Star Trek" twist shouldn't come as a massive shock to those of us who've been following this story for nearly a decade now. As much as we wanted the Powers That Be to green light another installment of the movies, the relatively underwhelming box office performance of "Star Trek Beyond" caused Paramount to rethink its entire approach — to the extent that there hasn't been a single theatrical "Star Trek" release in the years since. (The last movie, the straight-to-streaming "Section 31," debuted earlier this year to dismal reviews.) Our last significant update regarding a fourth "Trek" movie came last year, suggesting that one last Kelvin Timeline film could act as a "final chapter" and allow the rebooted cast to sail into the sunset.

That was simply not to be, as we now know, and we're left to scratch our heads over the future of the franchise. The Variety article doesn't mention the status of other projects previously known to be in development, such as the origin story film from "Andor" and "Black Mirror" director Toby Haynes. Could Paramount be interested in another reboot, replacing the last crew with an even younger cast of stars on the rise? Will the studio instead focus more on the television side of things, given the success various "Star Trek" shows have experienced for the last several years? Heck, will David Ellison ring up Quentin Tarantino and give him another shot at his own "Star Trek" pitch?

Whatever happens, at least we have some closure on the movies that audiences seemed to love, bumps and all.