New Star Trek movie to be helmed by WandaVision director Matt Shakman

WandaVision director Matt Shakman will take the reins for the next Star Trek movie, Deadline reports.

Production is due to start in spring 2022 with a planned release date of June 2023, but no cast members have been officially confirmed yet. Back in 2015, The Hollywood Reporter said that Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, who played Kirk and Spock in 2009's Star Trek and its two follow-ups, 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016's Star Trek Beyond, had signed on for a fourth instalment. However, it's currently unclear whether Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and the rebooted franchise's other cast members will return.

Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet have penned the script – Beer has also written and will direct an upcoming Pet Sematary movie, while Robertson-Dworet's screenwriting credits include Tomb Raider and Captain Marvel. This makes the upcoming project the Star Trek movie to be written by women. J.J. Abrams, the director of the first two movies, will return as producer.

Talk of a new Star Trek movie has been around for a while, with both Quentin Tarantino and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley reported to be directing new instalments. "I think I’m steering away from Star Trek," Tarantino said in 2019, two years after his name was first attached to the project. "I haven’t had an official conversation with those guys yet." The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith worked with the director to script the unmade movie. 

Shakman certainly had a successful run helming WandaVision – the show received 23 nominations at the 2021 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited Series, acting nods for Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, and Kathryn Hahn, and Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series for Shakman.

As well as his work on the Disney Plus series, Shakman has directed episodes of shows including Game of Thrones, Succession, Mad Men, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He also directed the 2014 movie Cut Bank, a thriller starring Liam Hemsworth, Billy Bob Thornton, and John Malkovich.

While we wait for the next Star Trek movie to arrive on our screens, you can fill out your watch list with our picks of the best sci-fi movies of all time.