In a recently published Esquire interview with Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the pair for the first time shed new light on their plans for a previously canceled Star Trek 4 film set in the Kelvin Timeline. The film had been in development with director S. J. Clarkson (Dexter, Ugly Betty) but eventually, after the scripting phase, all news about the project slowed to a crawl before ending completely.
Until this interview, all that was really known about the movie was Chris Hemsworth was to return as Captain Kirk’s father. “The conceit was that through a cosmic quirk in the Star Trek world, they were the same age” said McKay. “It was going to be a grand father-son space adventure–think Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in space.”
The movie was to feature an original villain with a “really cool 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque sci-fi idea at the core.” The writing pair teamed with Lindey Weber, who is also now an executive producer on Rings of Power, but the movie just “fell apart.”