Latest Star Trek 4 Movie Script Shelved

Paramount recently installed motion picture group president Emma Watts has made one of her early decisions. Work on the Noah Hawley Star Trek 4 script has been stopped, effectively ending any chance of a film for the next 2 years. This joins the also backburned script from Quentin Tarantino and Chris Hemworth (returning as Kirk's father) script that was canned for being too expensive due to Hemsworth's salary. The Hawley script is rumored to have "a plot centering around a virus that wipes out vast paths of the known universe" so clearly the idea made Watts think "Coronavirus" which in turn made her think "best to avoid such stories". 

Supposedly the Chris Hemworth and Tarantino scripts are still in play but that also remains unlikely. Chris Hemworth post Avengers remains much in demand and so just as expensive now as was 2 years ago when negotiations fell through. The Quentin film came across as having the silent condition of only being made if Tarantino was willing to direct and he has made it clear that was not going to happen. There are ways around all of this (don't cast Hemsworth for instance, not requiring Tarantino's involvement) but I suspect this is a new boss, new office politics situation.

Paramount is in desperate need of a hit with their last big one probably Mission: Impossible - Fallout back in 2018. Since Watts is going to want her first few choices to be big hits and something she can solely take credit for (for example the next M:I film wasn't greenlit by her so doesn't really count), then likely most pre-production projects at Paramount are probably going to be stopped until its determined which are going to maximize value for the company and her reputation. So any old scripts, ideas, etc are unlikely to be pursued as coming from previous administration unless just too good to pass up and none of Star Trek scripts qualify for that or the previous bosses would have moved on them already.

End result is enjoy the ever expanding world of Star Trek TV as the movie version is done until at least 2023.