Star Trek 4 is back on the cards. After the original vision for the movie fell through once Chris Hemsworth turned down the chance to play Kirk’s dad again, it looked like the film series was stalling, but last month it was announced that Legion creator Noah Hawley had been appointed as writer/director, with Chris Pine and the rest of the Enterprise crew expected to return. It’s still early days on the project, then, but we may already know something about the storyline that will really excite fans: it could bring back the Klingons in a major way.
We Got This Covered has heard from reliable sources that the studio may have already chosen the antagonist of the film, and it’s a fan favorite villain pulled from the franchise’s past. Namely, Kruge, the Klingon warlord, who first appeared in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, as portrayed by Christopher Lloyd.
While the idea of ST4 rebooting a classic foe might make fans anxious, considering Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan in Star Trek into Darkness, there’s cause for celebration here as it’d mean the Klingon species would finally be tackled in the Kelvin timeline.
Of the three entries in the rebooted film series so far, the Klingons have only shown up in Into Darkness and that was just for a cameo. Considering the species’ popularity and also familiarity to regular audiences, that’s always stumped fans. Remember when we all thought Idris Elba was playing a Klingon in Star Trek Beyond before it came out?
Given that they’re one of the richest and most storied races in Trek canon, it’s encouraging to hear that Hawley may be planning to utilize them again in his movie. After all, the Klingons have changed a lot over the years, in both design and characterization, with the Star Trek: Discovery TV series recently making some bold reinventions, for example. It seems likely, then, that Hawley’s film would once more freshen up the species, if Kruge does indeed end up being the villain of the piece.
It’s still early days, so of course, things can always change, but for now, at least, we’re hearing that this is the direction they’re headed in with Star Trek 4. And given that this intel comes to us from the same sources who told us Ewan McGregor was returning as Obi-Wan in a Disney Plus show, and that a Joker sequel was happening a month before The Hollywood Reporter confirmed it (and it absolutely is still happening, despite what Deadline says), we have no reason to doubt it.