Paramount's Next Star Trek Movie Beams Up Dungeons & Dragons Directors

The long wait for a new "Star Trek" movie is finally almost over.

According to Deadline, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the duo behind films like "Game Night" and "Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," have been hired to write, produce, and direct a new "Star Trek" film, which will be the first since 2016's "Star Trek Beyond." The report is light on plot details, but this movie is supposedly going to consist of "a completely new take" that is not connected to any existing films, shows, or previous movie pitches in this franchise (of which there are many). The report also puts forth the unconfirmed notion that the film will likely feature new characters instead of relying on familiar faces.

When Skydance recently took over Paramount, one of the priorities new CEO David Ellison laid out was to get new "Star Trek" movies up and running. As recently as this past summer, Simon Pegg, who played Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin-directed films and co-wrote "Star Trek Beyond," indicated that the door was still open for that group of cast members, including people like Chris Pine and Zoe Saldaña, to return for a proper "Star Trek 4." But earlier this month, Variety revealed that Ellison wanted to move on from that "Star Trek" cast, seemingly closing that door for good.

Today's report slams it shut, chains it up, and puts a padlock on it. The Kelvin timeline has officially reached its end.

What's that, you say? A major franchise is actually shaking off its cobwebs and not trying to desperately tap into nostalgia or provide fan service to a vocal minority of its fandom with a new movie project? What a concept! I have my own feelings about whether or not David Ellison and Skydance's attempt to take over Hollywood is a good thing, but at the very least — through the most forced-optimism glasses you can possibly imagine wearing — I appreciate that Ellison has made a decision that empowers a couple of solid filmmakers to do what they want with one of the studio's most beloved pieces of intellectual property.

Daley started out as an actor (his lovable dweeb character on "Freaks and Geeks" would probably be thrilled at this news) before teaming up with Goldstein to become steady hands in the world of comedy screenwriting. They have writing credits on hits like "Horrible Bosses" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming," and then moved into directing in 2015 with "Vacation." We won't hold that one against 'em: Their next two projects, "Game Night" and "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," were bangers and showed that they have a knack for staging fun action and for writing for large ensembles, both of which should come in handy on a "Star Trek" movie.

Audiences slept on "Dungeons & Dragons" in a big way (a sequel never materialized, even though it seems like a creative no-brainer), so, again, it's encouraging that the new Paramount leadership didn't scoff at that film's box office returns and skip over these guys, and instead saw the value in that movie and handed them the keys to the space kingdom here. Fingers crossed they can get this franchise back up to (warp) speed.