J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are currently promoting The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power but they also spoke to Esquire about their cancelled plans for Star Trek 4. “The one you’re asking about would have been the fourth in the franchise, reuniting Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pine,” McKay said. “The conceit was that through a cosmic quirk in the Star Trek world, they were the same age. It was going to be a grand father-son space adventure—think Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in space.”
He continued, “We were really thrilled about it. We had an original villain and a really cool 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque sci-fi idea at the core. We worked on it for two and half years with Lindsey Weber, our non-writing executive producer on Rings of Power, and an amazing director, S.J. Clarkson. The movie eventually fell apart and it really was a heartbreak for us.” It’s unfortunate that the plans for Star Trek 4 didn’t push through considering that it had what could have been an awesome adventure. Still, we’re happy to know that Payne and McKay would soon end up working on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
