The Star Trek feature films may be exploring strange new worlds, and abandoning old story plans — and possibly even its familiar cast.

The fate of Star Trek 4 has been in question since the departure of stars Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pine in 2018, followed soon by director S.J. Clarkson. Last month, it seemed like phasers were set to go again with the boarding of Lucy in the Sky director Noah Hawley. However, according to Star Trek Beyond star Simon Pegg, it’s possible that Hawley’s Star Trek project isn’t actually Star Trek 4 at all.

In an interview with GoldDerby about the uncertain future of the Star Trek franchise, Pegg seemed uncertain about whether he or the J.J. Abrams-era cast would be involved in Hawley’s unnamed Star Trek project, which was previously thought to be Star Trek 4.

“I don’t know anything about it. I think Noah Hawley’s been hired to write something for Star Trek, which is very exciting. He’s a brilliant writer and always creates interesting stuff. Whether or not we’re involved with that, I don’t know. I don’t think so and I don’t think Noah’s thing is necessarily going to be Star Trek 4.”

It was reported in November that Hawley was on board to write and direct Star Trek 4 with crew members Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Karl Urban reportedly set to return. But Pegg cast doubt on these reports, stating that he is unsure if he is involved in Hawley’s film, which may not even be Star Trek 4 but simply a film set in the Star Trek universe. That wouldn’t be the first time Paramount has courted an auteur to direct a separate Star Trek film — rumors have abounded since last year about an R-rated Star Trek spin-off directed by Quentin Tarantino, though chatter around that has ground to a halt. However, Pegg went on to confirm that Tarantino’s Star Trek film is still in the works at Paramount, along with discussions of some other Star Trek spin-off movies.

So, what could this mean? Is Star Trek 4 dead in the dust, with Paramount giving preference to standalone spin-off films that don’t involve the cast of the J.J. Abrams-era films? Will we ever see another film set in the Kelvinverse, which began with 2009’s Star Trek? We’ll have to wait for official confirmation to see, but it seems unlikely now.

The post Noah Hawley’s ‘Star Trek’ Movie May Not Be ‘Star Trek 4,’ Says Simon Pegg appeared first on /Film.