Paramount has confirmed (via Variety) that S.J Clarkson will become the first woman to helm a film in the Star Trek franchise. Yes, even in the progressive future of ‘Trek, it’s 2018 and we’re still having firsts.
Paramount’s Jim Gianopulos announced the news at the CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday. He also confirmed that there are two films under production, with the untitled STAR TREK 4 reportedly involving Chris Hemsworth reprising his role as George Kirk, the late father of Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk. We last saw him in the opening sequence of 2009’s Star Trek, where he heroically sacrificed himself to save his wife and newborn son. Current rumours/speculation are around a time travel plot, which totally sounds like a fourth film thing to do.
Clarkson will work off a script from J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay with J.J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber producing through Bad Robot. Executive producers David Ellison and Dana Goldberg of Skydance Media will also be on the credits.
Collider also adds that the mystery Quentin Tarantino project, with a script by The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith, is still on the cards. This is apparently set to debut after the fourth entry in the series that Abrams rebooted almost a decade ago.
Clarkson’s credits span two decades of film and television, including extended stints on the UK series Doctors and Mistresses. More recently, she has directed two episodes apiece for Netflix’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders.
