Star Trek 4 Confirmed With a Returning Character From 2009's Reboot

Before the third movie in Star Trek's reboot series could even arrive in theaters, a sequel has been announced.

Details, as you'd expect, are scant at the moment, though the announcement did confirm one noteworthy tidbit: Chris Hemsworth, who had a brief part in 2009's Star Trek as George Kirk (father of Chris Pine's James Kirk), will be in it.

"In the next installment of the epic space adventure, Chris Pine's Captain Kirk will cross paths with a man he never had a chance to meet, but whose legacy has haunted him since the day he was born: his father," a press release from Paramount Pictures states.

This sounds as if it'll be a bigger role than what was seen in Star Trek, too--Hemsworth is said to be returning "to star alongside Pine." It's unclear how this will be explained given the events of Star Trek.

The press release goes on to say that the "remaining cast is expected to return." We can also probably safely assume the Enterprise will be destroyed or crippled at some point in the movie, as has become customary in the reboots.

JD Payne and Patrick McKay will write the screenplay for the new movie; both are listed as uncredited writers on Star Trek Beyond, which launches this week. JJ Abrams will again produce the film, but there's no word on a director. Fast and Furious director Justin Lin took the reigns from Abrams for Beyond.

Lin said recently that Beyond is "very different" from prior films, and it also features the series' first openly gay character--though not everyone is happy about that. For more, check out GameSpot's review and review roundup.