Star Trek's Simon Pegg Hints That He Might Write the Next Movie

Although this year's Star Trek Beyond was not quite the box office smash of its two predecessors, a fourth movie in the rebooted sci-fi franchise is on the way. A new photo tweeted by Beyond co-writer and actor Simon Pegg suggests that work may have begun on the film's script.

The image show Pegg alongside his Beyond co-writer Doug Jung, with the robotic figure of JJ Abrams' production company Bad Robot sitting on the desk too. Bad Robot has produced all three movies in the series so far.

Paramount announced plans for Star Trek 4 in July, revealing that Thor star Chris Hemsworth would return to the series. Hemsworth had a small role in 2009's Star Trek as Kirk's father, and a press release at the time stated: "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."

However, this announcement was made before Star Trek Beyond hit theaters. Although the film was successful, its $343 million worldwide gross was considerably less than either Star Trek or 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness.

Abrams himself hinted that a fourth movie might depend on the performance of Beyond. "One of the reasons that I'm hoping [Beyond] does well is so that we can, without question, get that movie made," Abrams told Entertainment Weekly.

While no release date has been announced for the next Star Trek movie, it does at least looks like it still happening.