Clearly not willing to let the new Star Trek TV series usurp all the attention from the current news cycle, the film franchise has gone ahead and confirmed something that was only a rumour before: A fourth Star Trek film in what is known as the "Kelvin Timeline" is official, and Chris Hemsworth's George Kirk will appear somehow.
Yes, as we pointed out in the story about J.J. Abrams talking up the return of Kirk Sr., George's death is one of the keystones of the new franchise. But it appears that Abrams and his Bad Robot team are going to be exploring the idea of bringing him back. And it's not like characters haven't returned from the dead on Star Trek before – Spock famously made it back thanks to the Genesis Planet's powers in between Wrath Of Khan and Search For Spock.
The details of how and why the elder Kirk will be back have not yet been released, but Skydance, Paramount and the Bad Robot bonds have announced that J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are aboard to write the script this time, with a director to be announced at a later date. The other big issue, will be how the new film sensitively deals with the tragic death of Anton Yelchin, who has played Chekov in the first three movies. No information was provided, and we're sure there is some heart searching going on over the best course of action.
For much more on Trek, you can buy the latest Empire, which features a 60-page supplement on the subject{