Paramount Pictures Since the release of the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond, there’s actually been quite a bit of new Star Trek. Starting in 2017, fans have had five new TV series, with a sixth — Starfleet Academy — coming in January 2026. There’s also been one streaming movie, Section 31, and a few micro-series, too. But among all of that, there has not been a new theatrical film at all, despite the fact that there have been many promises made that a new Trek feature was coming at warp speed. By now, fans know that development on a new Trek feature hasn’t just been slow, but perhaps is an illusory trick created by Q or Trelane. So, with the announcement of yet another new Star Trek film project, is there any reason for hope?Maybe. The choice of directors and a small tidbit of plot information just released about the next in-development Star Trek movie could give even the most skeptical person a reason for a bit of optimism. On November 14, Deadline broke the story that Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the co-directors and writers of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, will tackle the next Star Trek feature film. According to the Deadline report, the duo will “write, produce, and are attached to direct a new original Star Trek film for Paramount.” The phrase “new and original” means that, apparently, as of this writing, this new movie will be a fresh start for the Trek film franchise. According to the report, this new movie is “not connected to any previous or current television series, movie, or prior movie development projects.”Jonathan Goldstein, Chris Pine, and John Francis Daley at the debut of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. | Jesse Grant/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesSo that means this new film is unrelated to the at least six, incomplete, canceled, and unmade Star Trek films that have been in various stages of development since 2016. It also sounds like the new film likely won’t bring any current TV series characters to the big screen. And, most crucially, this film probably won’t continue to the canon of the Kelvin Universe films, which began in 2009 with the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek reboot. That said, because Goldstein and Daley have worked with Chris Pine on both Horrible Bosses 2 and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, are we really counting out his return as some kind of version of James T. Kirk?More broadly though, the idea of Goldstein and Daley and daily crafting a brand new Trek movie, one that is unconnected to any of the existing incarnations of the Final Frontier, seems smart. Essentially, they’ve pulled off this trick twice before: tackling convoluted canon and making a standalone movie that pleases hardcore fans and normies alike. We may now think Spider-Man: Homecoming as just one piece of the larger MCU puzzle, but at the time, it was proof that the new Peter Parker (Tom Holland) could carry his own movie, after his hasty introduction in Captain America: Civil War. Meanwhile, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a magic trick of a film; something that honors the spirit of the immortal role-playing game, but also manages to be a crowd-pleasing family film that feels like a rollicking 1980s throwback.Kirk and Spock on the bus in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. | Paramount PicturesGoldstein and Daley are also clearly Star Trek people, having incorporated a very specific Easter egg from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home into their script for Spider-Man: Homecoming. Kirk Thatcher, who played the “punk on the bus” in The Voyage Home, returned as the same character, crossing over from the Trek universe to Marvel. Now, this isn’t to say Goldstein and Daley are going to create a Star Trek/Marvel crossover with their new Trek movie. But it does demonstrate a commitment to the whimsical and fun side of what Star Trek can be.In fact, the humor and genuine sense of adventure in Honor Among Thieves are also good signs for Goldstein and Daley’s Trek movie. While Star Trek is famous for its optimistic future and hopeful themes, the delivery mechanism of those ideas began with a fun, often funny action-adventure series. In fact, even the darkest theatrical Star Trek films (The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Undiscovered Country, First Contact) have laugh-out-loud moments, combined with real stakes. Hell, even some films that fans label as “bad ” Star Trek movies (like The Final Frontier) have humorous warmth at their cores.This blend of adventure, optimism, and humor is the unspoken promise of the Goldstein and Daley Star Trek movie. Assuming this movie actually happens, it’s possible that the very specific Goldstein and Daley cocktail will make this long Trek well worth the wait.The next Star Trek film does not yet have a release date.Phasers on Stun!: How the Making — and Remaking — of Star Trek Changed the WorldAmazon -