Zoe Saldana Talks About Moving Forward with STAR TREK 4 Without Anton Yelchin
It was recently announced that Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams were finally moving forward with Star Trek 4 and that they were in talks with the cast members to return. The cast includes Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Simon Pegg.
Sadly, there’s one fan-favorite cast member who won’t return. Anton Yelchin, who played Pavel Chekov, was tragically killed in 2016. His absence in the franchise is certainly going to be felt by the cast, crew, and fans. In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Saldana talked about the cast being a family and addressed moving forward with the next film without Yelchin. She said:
"We're excited. Obviously, it's bittersweet because we are coming together for a fourth time and one of us is no longer with us with Anton's passing, but we honestly feel that going back and keeping the Star Trek family together is a way to really keep him alive in our thoughts and our hearts because he was such a fan, and he was such a devoted artist to the craft and also to Star Trek. So, it would be great to get to go back to work and get to, you know, be together with the gang."
Abrams previously said that Yelchin's character, Pavel Chekov, will not be recast in future films. But, I can’t help but be curious about how the next movie will address his absence.
There aren’t a lot of details regarding the film, but Matt Shakman (WandaVision) and Abrams are hoping to start shooting the film by the end of the year even though there’s no script, and the cast has yet to be officially signed on. Abrams previously said:
"We are thrilled to say that we are hard at work on a new Star Trek film that will be shooting by the end of the year that will be featuring our original cast and some new characters that I think are going to be really fun and exciting and help take Star Trek into areas that you've just never seen before. We're thrilled about this film, we have a bunch of other stories that we're talking about that we think will be really exciting so can't wait for you to see what we're cooking up. But until then, live long and prosper."
Star Trek 4 is set to be released in theaters on December 22nd, 2023.