Star Trek 4 to be directed by first woman in franchise's history

Director S.J. Clarkson will direct Star Trek 4, according to reports, the first female director in the movie franchise’s history.

Clarkson has a host of top flight TV on her CV, having helmed episodes of Dexter, The Defenders, and Jessica Jones for Marvel, Orange Is The New Black and Bates Motel.

Paramount has yet to confirm the appointment, but it confirmed at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas that another movie is in development, following 2016’s Star Trek Beyond.

It will reportedly star Chris Hemsworth, who’s already appeared in a cameo role in the original reboot in 2009, playing the father of Chris Pine’s James Kirk.

The planned movie will not be the possible Quentin Tarantino/J.J. Abrams collaboration, however, which is still being written, and would likely be the fifth movie.

Though it’s not confirmed, it’s thought that Hemsworth could reprise the role of Kirk’s father in a time-travel plot.

A fourth movie would have a lot riding on it, however.

The rebooted franchise never quite hit blockbuster figures at the box office, with the first movie in 2009 making $385 million on a $150 million and sequel Star Trek Into Darkness making $467 million, for a budget of $185 million.

Star Trek Beyond also cost $185 million, but only made $343 million back, significantly less than its predecessor, and likely not a great deal of profit after marketing and advertising spends were added on.

Simon Pegg, who co-wrote Beyond, and also stars as Scotty, recently blamed a poor marketing strategy on the movie’s failure.

“If you look at a film like Suicide Squad, that was around for such a long time before it finally came out and people were so aware of it,” he told Geek Exchange.

“Whereas with Star Trek Beyond, it was left too late before they started their marketing push.

“It still did great business, but it was disappointing compared to Into Darkness.”

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