When director J.J. Abrams created a new Star Trek timeline, he did so by destroying a starship called the USS Kelvin. Theoretically a scene that took place in a modified version of the regular Trek timeline, the opening of the film depicted a time-traveling Romulan ship called the Narada pummeling the Kelvin, and causing James T. Kirk to be born on a shuttle, rather than in Iowa, and for his father, George, to perish. This started a new timeline with a bang, but now, 16 years later, it seems that his bold moment of destruction is destined for its own, strange demise. As revealed by a Variety report on the future of Paramount and Skydance, it appears that the Kelvin Universe, at least in terms of future cinematic sequels, is no more.
How do we feel about this? Since 2016, one year before the explosion of new streaming Star Trek TV shows, the future of the Final Frontier was seemingly still with a sequel to Star Trek Beyond. But, like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, the idea of a Beyond sequel featuring the reboot crew began feeling, over the years, less and less likely. Now, it seems it’s all put impossible. And yet, is there a silver lining here?
