Paramount has just removed their long-awaited Star Trek sequel from its spot on their upcoming film slate for December 2023. This is following the news that, around a month ago, the fourth Star Trek reboot film lost its director Matt Shakman (who is now attached to direct the MCU's Fantastic Four movie).

This Star Trek sequel has been trying to get off the ground for years now, following the 2016 Star Trek Beyond, and the studio seemed to have big plans for the movie (but perhaps not realistic plans). This past February, original Star Trek director (and current producer) J.J. Abrams had promised investors that the film would begin shooting by the end of the year featuring the original Star Trek reboot cast (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana), but it was later reported that said cast had not yet signed their contracts for the film at the time of that announcement, leaving the studio in a sticky situation with a fairly quick deadline.

Now, the Star Trek film has no director and no deadline, but this is a problem the film has faced before. In fact, this particular Star Trek reboot sequel has been publicized with multiple iterations (including an attempt to get together Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth—now much more famous than in his first appearance as Kirk's father in 2009's Star Trek) with directors such as S.J. Clarkson, Noah Hawley, and Quentin Tarantino attached.

Now that this deadline has been taken away from public view, perhaps Paramount will be able to put together a plan for the movie in a way that will allow it to finally come together.

Though film projects haven't seemed to be going well for the Star Trek universe, the same can't be said for television projects. Currently, Paramount has a full slate of quite successful TV shows including Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds.

Interested in reading more about Matt Shakman? Check out Popverse's news piece on the confirmation that he will direct Fantastic Four.