Producer Adi Shankar Thinks That Losing Chris Pine and Captain Kirk isn't a Big Deal

A couple of weeks ago we learned that both Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth dropped out of Star Trek 4 after their negotiations with Paramount Pictures fell apart. There's been no word on any changes regarding that but Dredd producer Adi Shankar is saying that he thinks it's fine to move forward without Pine and Captain Kirk. He actually thinks it would be a good thing! While talking to ScreenRant, he says:

"Losing Pine and Kirk is not a big deal and kind of cool. Actors don't matter, stories do. This is the universe presenting an opportunity to do something different and boldly go where no suits have gone before."

He makes a good point, but Star Trek 4 was supposed to revolve around Kirk meeting his father George. It's a storyline that a lot of fans were excited about, but without Pine's Kirk and Hemsworth's George, there's really no point. 

Some fans never really cared for Pine's version of Kirk anyway, so I'm sure they'd be fine with the film franchise moving forward without him.

However, removing Kirk from the franchise would definitely be a little strange and jarring. For me, anyway. But, it's not like we haven't seen a Star Trek film or series without Captain Kirk before! I'm sure they could pull something off if that's the direction they ultimately end up taking the franchise.

What are your thoughts on the studio possibly moving forward with the film set in the Kelvin timeline without Captain Kirk? Do you think they should just reboot the whole thing again?