Chris Hemsworthis one of the most in-demand actors of the moment. Between starring in the ever-expanding MCU as Thor — a franchise for which he has recently extended his contract, according toGiant Freakin Robot— and a handful ofupcoming exciting movies, likeExtraction 2andFuriosa(the prequel toMad Max: Fury Road), it’s no surprise that Hemsworth’s schedule is one of the busiest of any actor in Hollywood right now. Prior to wrapping up filming onExtraction 2, in fact, Hemsworth was working on the highly anticipated MCU sequelThor: Love and Thunder, and now, it appears that his turn as thelead villain inFuriosais next on his list.
If these three franchises weren’t enough, another that Hemsworth was reportedly tied to wasStar Trek. Although he initially had limited screen time in the first movie, released in 2009, Hemsworth was reportedly attached to the upcomingStar Trek 4, reprising his role as Captain Kirk’s (Chris Pine) father. It’s no surprise that the franchise was keen to get him back on-board, considering how his star power has increased exponentially between 2009 and now. Unfortunately, Hemsworth ultimately turned down returning to the franchise. Here’s why.
Related:Chris Hemsworth’s Best Performances, Ranked
TheStar Trekfranchise has been needing to be developed further for some time now, and reports began to surface around 2016 that a story idea was in development forStar Trek 4, which would see Hemsworth’s George Kirk reunite with his son in a plot that would focus strongly on the development of their characters. It was also announced that J.J. Abrams would return to the role of producer and the screenplay would be written by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay to take the story in a new direction.
Not long after this, in 2018, it was reported that both actors were considering pulling fromStar Trek 4for reasons that were being attributed to budget disputes regarding their potential salaries for the film. It had since been corrected that this may not have been the case, but rather the path for the development of the film may have been difficult and lacked a clear progression. Before Hemsworth had pulled from the project, it was revealed that there were multiple versions of the script in existence, but a direction was not clear, which would likely have influenced Hemsworth’s decision to leave. In spite of this, Pine has been confirmed to star in and has even expressedexcitement aboutStar Trek 4.
Chris Hemsworth is Tied to Other Franchises
Star Trek 4had yet to lock in a director for a while, but, according toVariety, one filmmaker who had been tied to discussions of the project on multiple occasions is none other than Quentin Tarantino. Of course, while these discussions took place, Hemsworth’s scheduled naturally filled up withThorandAvengerssequels, as well as other projects and franchises. In addition to the MCU, during the time of locking in a director forStar Trek 4, Hemsworth was tied to theMen in Blackfranchise, the live-actionSnow Whitemovies opposite Charlize Theron, an upcoming Hulk Hogan biopic from director Todd Phillips, and now bothExtractionandFuriosa. On top of that, there have been discussions of his possible involvement in futureJames Bondmovies, so his schedule is not looking quiet anytime soon.
Related:Here’s All of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor Costumes, Ranked
Star Trek 4 Ideas Developed Too Slowly
Star Trek 3ended with Captain Kirk declining the promotion to Vice Admiral and remaining as Captain of the USS Enterprise. Spock also chose to remain in the Starfleet and began to embark on a romance again with Uhura. By the end of the movie, we saw them already continuing their mission on a new USS Enterprise after the previous one was destroyed. This initially opened a lot of possibilities forStar Trek 4, which is perhaps why there have been so many delays: too many ideas, in this case, was a bad thing.
Overall,Star Trek 4has encountered different kinds of delays at almost every step of the road. The initial script written by Payne and McKay was scrapped entirely, which urged the project to move in a completely new direction. As such, the movie sat dormant for a while, and it wasn’t until 2018 that there was progress again. At this point, S.J. Clarkson was hired to direct, though he also left the project. Now,WandaVisiondirector Matt Shakman is on-board with a script from Josh Friedman and Cameron squires. For Hemsworth, though hemaintains interest in returningto the franchise, it was a matter of timing.
