Why Director Matt Shakman Swapped Franchises From Star Trek To The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Anyone paying attention knows that a new “Star Trek” film has been in development hell for quite some time. There has been talk of rebooting the films again, and one of the most popular renditions was to have Chris Pine, who plays Captain Kirk, unite with Chris Hemsworth, who played his father in the opening flashbacks of the 2009 “Star Trek” film. As detailed by various sources, no single rendition could be agreed upon, and scheduling the film’s massive cast has been an ongoing bugbear. All of this was in addition to a “Star Trek” film that was purportedly written by Quentin Tarantino. 

Shakman worked on the new Trek film for over a year before leaving the project. Having already worked on “WandaVision,” he said that he would rather “go home.” He said:

“I had a great time working on ‘Star Trek’ for a little over a year, working closely with J.J. Abrams and everyone at Paramount, and I love that franchise, and I love that cast that J.J. put together, and it would have been an unbelievable pleasure to work with them on the fourth installment there. […] But movies have different journeys and momentums and schedules are a little bit mercurial, and so when the ‘Fantastic Four’ opportunity came up, it was just too hard to pass up…”

Given that the MCU has been churning out superhero films rapidly and regularly since about 2009, “Fantastic Four” was not only familiar but reliable. A “Fantastic Four” movie would be less mercurial. Indeed, Shakman said in the same interview with the Wrap that he would begin shooting his cosmic superhero flick early in 2024. One can’t blame him for moving to the project that is more assuredly moving forward.