WandaVision’s Matt Shakman to Direct STAR TREK Movie
In an announcement made on Tuesday, July 13th, 2021, it was revealed that the upcoming Star Trek movie will be directed by Matt Shakman, the director behind the first (and possibly only) season of WandaVision!
Matt Shakman. Photo: American Theater
What Does It Mean?
Look, Marvel Blog True Believers: we know next to nothing about this movie, other than the fact that Shakman is the director, but that won’t stop me from speculating!
First of all, it isn’t clear on which timeline this Trek movie would be set.
Kirk and Spock. Photo: CBS
What do I mean? There are two timelines in the Trek universe. There’s the prime timeline, that features William Shatner as Captain James Tiberius Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock. Then there’s the Kelvin Timeline, which first appeared in Star Trek (2008), directed by J.J. Abrams, which features Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock.
Star Trek: Beyond. Photo: CBS
This means that the movie could involve the Pine-led crew, or it could follow “The Next Generation” (Picard and the rest of the Enterprise-D crew members) as they appear in the Kelvin timeline (about a century later than Kirk’s crew). The story could be set in the Prime timeline at any point.
But I have a theory, Marvel Blog True Believers…
The Voyage Home
Whichever crew this Shakman helmed story follows, it will be a time travel movie!
What’s my evidence? Check this out: the Kelvin-verse movies have been following a similar pattern as the original movies. The second movie in the Kelvin-verse, Star Trek: Into Darkness, retold the story of Khan, as seen in the second movie in the Prime timeline, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.
Star Trek: The Voyage Home movie poster. Photo: IMDb
If this pattern continues, that means the fourth movie in the cycle is a time travel movie: consider the fact that the fourth Prime timeline movie was The Voyage Home.
Star Trek IV: The-Voyage Home 1986 UK Lobby Card. Photo: John N. Mounsey/Lobby Cards Gallery
This would explain why Shakman was hired to direct.
First, WandaVision proved he can handle multiple time periods within a single narrative, didn’t it, Marvel Blog True Believers? And while the movie is meant to be released in 2023, if this is a time travel movie, they can simply film certain scenes on the modern-day street (as they have with the second season of Picard), which might explain how we’re getting a movie so quickly!
Matt Shakman on the set of WandaVision. Photo: Marvel/Empire Magazine
Matt Shakman’s Star Trek in 2023
Will you be heading to the theaters to see the next Star Trek movie, directed by Shakman, when it’s released in 2023? We’re waiting to hear from you! Let us know what you think in the comment section.
