Paramount appears to be putting a new Star Trek film in the fast lane. No sooner does studio chief Jim Gianopulos announce that they are working on two new Star Trek films comes news of the hiring of a director for one of those projects.
SJ Clarkson has been picked to head up the currently untitled Star Trek 4, a sequel to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond. Clarkson has a number of television credits including the pilots of both the Jessica Jones and The Defenders series for Netflix. She also just wrapped filming on the Carey Mulligan vehicle Collateral which will also appear on Netflix.
As of right now, Star Trek 4‘s storyline will somehow involve time travel and will bring Captain Jim Kirk (Chris Pine) face to face with his father George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), a man who died on the day Jim Kirk was born. The screenplay is being written by Star Trek: Beyond’s original writing team of J D Payne and Patrick McKay.
It seems odd that it is has taken this long for a franchise like Star Trek, which by its nature has been a proponent of progressive values since its inception, has not had a female director on any of its big screen outings before. Even in its earliest days, the most powerful woman on the original series was story editor D C Fontana, who penned several episodes including “Journey To Babel” which introduced the parents of fan favorite character Mr. Spock.
YAY!!!! girl power :)