Bear with me on this Sunday afternoon… as I ponder a question that’s been swirling in my brain since news broke about director SJ Clarkson’s availability to direct the Games of Thrones prequel.

This, of course, meant that there was no director assigned to Star Trek 4 – and that must mean that the project has been shelved indefinitely. However, there has been no official confirmation and Trekzone’s queries have gone unanswered.

So what does this mean? Well, nothing really – you don’t need a director attached to continue with preproduction, and Clarkson’s appointment was only headline news in 2018 because she was the first female director recruited for a Star Trek film.

But Matt, what about Chris’ Pine and Hemsworth reportedly refusing to take a pay cut to work on the film? Again, this was all rumour and hearsay and I reported it as such in August here on the site.

But with John Van Citters being promoted to Vice President of Star Trek brand development last month, my theory is that he has reached out to CBS’ estranged cousin in Paramount Pictures and sought to reunify the Star Trek brand into one universe, with one look and one feel.

Perhaps this decision has pushed back development time to a point where a director is not earning enough money to justify sticking around – no matter how ground breaking her involvement would be. Perhaps this decision is for the best – especially if it means we’re heading back to the prime universe on the big screen.

I know that part of the deal with Les Moonves’ departure was that negotiations of a CBS and Paramount reunification were to be put on hold for at least two years, but that doesn’t mean the two companies can’t work together for a mutual benefit. This is evident in rumours of a continuation of the prime universe storyline from the 2009 movie (Hobus star, Romulus, the Jellyfish, red matter…) in the upcoming Picard series.

Well, that’s my theory anyway… I guess time will tell.