WandaVision Director Matt Shakman Will Helm the Next Star Trek Film

Paramount has lined up a director for its next Star Trek film: Matt Shakman, who recently helmed the entirety of Marvel’s WandaVision, according to Deadline. According to the publication, the project has been written by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, and it’s set to begin production at some point in the spring of 2022.

Shakman’s hiring is a good indication that the studio is finally getting its film franchise back into gear after taking several years (and with several aborted attempts) off. The last film in the series, Justin Lin’s Star Trek Beyond, hit theaters five years ago, and ever since, Paramount and CBS have put their efforts on building up the television side of Trek on Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access).

There have been a handful of projects in the years since that haven’t gone beyond the development stage: Star Trek 4 was delayed over some disputes over cast pay, and S.J. Clarkson was set to direct a fourth installment before dropping out. Quentin Tarantino and Noah Hawley had also begun developing projects, but were put on hold at some point last year as Paramount underwent some restructuring and soul searching over the direction of the franchise.

Thins started to move forward last year: Paramount announced that it was putting together a new film to be written by Star Trek: Discovery writer Kalinda Vazquez, and produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot studios, then dated another film for 2023. That appears to be the film that Shakman will be helming next year.

Deadline‘s report notes that this project will also be produced by Abram’s Bad Robot, and that it will be the first Trek film written by a female writing team. There’s no word on what the project will be about—if it’ll be set in Abrams’ Kelvin universe (pictured above) or elsewhere—but it sounds as though we’ll find out in a couple of years.