Why I'm More Bummed About Star Trek's Latest Movie Update Than Even The Recent Cancellations

Paramount Skydance announced its upcoming Star Trek movie is still "in development," and somehow, that's bumming me out more than the recent cancellation of Starfleet Academy. At a time when it feels Trekkies desperately need some positive news about the franchise's future, we're again stuck in this waiting period.

This year at CinemaCon, CEO David Ellison made exciting announcements about the studio's projects and confirmed it will aggressively release films throughout the 2026 movie schedule and beyond. However, TrekMovie.com and others reported that Star Trek was more or less a footnote, which is only a bit better than the previous year, when it was forgotten entirely. To me, that's not just upsetting, it's unacceptable, and it has me questioning just how serious the studio is about getting a movie out to its fans.

Star Trek Fans Know Nothing More About Star Trek's New Movie Than They Did In November

Back in November, we learned that John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein were working on a new Star Trek movie, which had many excited because they're just a handful of years removed from co-writing Spider-Man: Homecoming. At the time, it was reported that it was likely the movie would be disconnected from previous entries in the franchise, both in film and television, and would feature new characters.

Essentially, we were given nothing in terms of what it would be about, which is exactly what we got this time, too. A Star Trek movie that has nothing to do with previous works is "in development," which can mean anything from a script actively being written to its just a studio commitment to make a movie happen. If this reads as snarky, it's because Paramount has been repeating this same line for the past decade, and we're no closer to seeing another Trek movie in theaters right now than we were back when Star Trek: Beyond was first released.

Paramount Skydance Is Really Dropping The Ball On Star Trek's 60th Anniversary

Star Trek's 60th anniversary as a franchise was meant to be a big year for the franchise, and yet, Paramount Skydance has done little in the way of assuring fans it's still the high-value IP that brought in billions in streaming revenue not that long ago. Movies take a while to make, I know that, but we can't even get a bread crumb of what the pitch is or what this movie is even about?

We do have unreleased seasons of Star Trek shows on the way, but I think many people want some promising news about the path forward. It doesn't seem like that will happen until Paramount Skydance's merger with Warner Bros. happens, but I would assume that discussions have to be happening.

There's still hope that we'll get some special news about the future of Star Trek when San Diego Comic-Con rolls around, but I'm getting increasingly pessimistic after CinemaCon's presentation came and went. It's disappointing because I know a ton of Trekkies ready to celebrate the 60th anniversary, but so far, there's very little reason to get excited.

We'll continue to keep an eye out for what's ahead for Star Trek as the year continues. Almost all the shows and movies are available on streaming with a Paramount+ subscription, so make sure to pick up one to enjoy some classic shows.