Paramount Skydance dropped a bombshell at the world’s largest film industry trade show, CinemaCon 2026: a new Star Trek movie is finally in development.
The announcement comes just weeks after the media company announced Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, one of the franchise’s most promising new series (well, in my humble opinion), will end with Season 2, and several days after reports surfaced that the Alex Kurtzman-era Star Trek sets were being dismantled, fueling online rumors that Star Trek‘s golden era is coming to an end. Between these two data points, fans began to wonder whether the franchise would continue to serve up new content for them to enjoy, with a Change.org petition to renew Starfleet Academy for a third season garnering over 43,000 signatures. Thus, the CinemaCon announcement is the shot of optimism Trekkies have been waiting for (sorry, Kelvinverse fans), even as the television side of the franchise winds down.
“Considering this year is the 60th anniversary, the timing of this seems appalling and would allude to there being no new Star Trek going forward,” wrote one Reddit commentator. “Did we know that all the current shows were ending? To have no new projects in production during such a massive anniversary year seems wild to me.”
Well, never fear, my fellow Trekkies. A few days after those reports surfaced (and after many metaphorical tears were shed), Paramount Skydance revealed that Star Trek‘s future is not on the small screen but on the big screen. Paramount Skydance confirmed at this year’s CinemaCon that the previously announced new Star Trek movie is STILL in development and will feature “an entirely new cast and story” that’s “separate from the Chris Pine-led timeline that’s been in limbo for years,” according to Collider’s on-the-scene reporter, Britta DeVore.
While Paramount Skydance kept details about the new film brief, the message was clear: Star Trek is heading back to the big screen. But no, this isn’t the long-gestured-at-but-never-delivered Star Trek 4 film, set in the Kelvin timeline — that project has officially been put to rest, with Skydance founder David Ellison telling investors on an earnings call that the next Star Trek film would not be set in the Kelvin Universe.
Instead, Paramount is charting a course to entirely new stars.
Back in November 2025, the Hollywood trade magazine Deadline revealed that the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves duo, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, had been tapped to write, direct, and produce the film. The project will feature a completely new cast and won’t connect to any prior corner of the franchise — no Kelvin timeline, no Prime timeline characters, no legacy callbacks. But whether it slots into Star Trek’s existing 60-year continuity or boldly launches a fresh universe of its own remains to be seen.
Of note, it’s the only Star Trek project greenlit since the Paramount-Skydance merger closed — and that context matters.
The state of the fleet
L-R: Paul Giamatti as Nus Braka and Holly Hunter as Chancellor Nahla Ake in season 1 , episode 1 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streaming on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Brooke Palmer/Paramount+
The last few months have been a turbulent time to be a Trekkie. Paramount’s new management has moved swiftly to wind down the franchise’s television presence, and the casualties have stung.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the franchise’s critically acclaimed return to classic-era Star Trek, was confirmed to be ending after five seasons. Season 4 is expected to air on Paramount+ later this year, with the truncated six-episode fifth and final season following. The production team has been vocal about acknowledging the uneven quality of Season 3 and promising the final stretch will earn back lost goodwill. One highlight already teased: the series finale will finally introduce Hikaru Sulu and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy to the SNW universe, played by Kai Murakami and Thomas Jane, respectively. On the more experimental end, one Season 4 episode will turn the Enterprise crew into puppets, and an anime-inspired episode has also been rumored.
The SNW team has also formally pitched Paramount Skydance on a continuation series, titled Star Trek: Year One, that would dramatize the early voyages of Kirk’s Enterprise and further bridge the gap between SNW and the original series. It has yet to be greenlit.
Starfleet Academy, meanwhile, wrapped its debut season recently and has already been confirmed to end with its currently filming second season. Filming on Season 2 wrapped in late February, with a likely premiere window in late 2026 or early 2027. Season 2 is apparently building toward a “shocking” cliffhanger, and its central antagonist is described less as a single villain and more as an ideology, with Season 1 guest stars Tatiana Maslany and Paul Giamatti not returning.
Sadly, the blunt reality is that for the first time in nearly a decade, there is no Star Trek film or TV series currently in active production. And with the franchise’s abysmal track record in bringing film pitches to fruition, I remain skeptical that this recently announced film will even become a reality. But, please, prove me wrong — and give me “woke” Star Trek on the big screen. While the course ahead is still uncertain, for the first time in a while, there’s at least a heading.
Keep up with all of The Beat’s Star Trek coverage here.
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