Chris Pine may have enjoyed playing Captain Kirk over the course of three Star Trek film, but when it comes to the future of franchise, he’s just as much in the dark as the rest of us.
While speaking during a Sundance interview at the Variety Studio presented by Audible, Pine was asked about Paramount’s new leadership and what direction they might be taking the long-running sci-fi franchise. His response was refreshingly blunt. “You probably know more than I do.”
As reported last year, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the filmmaking duo behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, are set to write, produce, and direct a new Star Trek movie for Paramount Pictures.
The project is being positioned as a fresh take meant to reinvigorate the brand, not a continuation of the J.J. Abrams reboot timeline that ran from 2009 to 2016. That also means Pine won’t be returning as Kirk after his three-film run.
Asked if he had any words of wisdom for the new stewards of the franchise, Pine didn’t overthink it. “Advice? Have fun, good luck, live long and prosper.”
While Star Trek may be in his rearview mirror, Pine has plenty going on right now. He helped kick off the 2026 Sundance Film Festival with the premiere of Carousel, a romance drama that pairs him with Jenny Slate and is directed by Rachel Lambert.
The film centers on a single father whose carefully balanced life gets shaken up when his high school ex unexpectedly reenters the picture.
Talking about his character, Pine leaned into the emotional core of the story. “Many a male character in film and in life… there is a difficulty for men to communicate feelings with clarity. He struggles with that,” Pine said, explaining how Slate’s character “allows him in the messiest way to confront these feelings and purge them out of the system.”
Slate echoed that sentiment, sharing what drew her to the project in the first place. “I was so excited by Rachel’s script for many reasons, but I think it’s a real opportunity when you get a full interiority.
“That makes for good drama. I started in comedy because it’s the easiest way to deal with my shadow, but not because I don’t have one. Now to sort of grow up into my adulthood as performer and to confront it straight on… I saw that opportunity in this script.”
For Pine, it feels like a fitting moment. He’s offering a casual Vulcan salute to the future of Star Trek while diving headfirst into smaller, more intimate stories. Wherever the franchise goes next, Kirk’s former captain seems content wishing it well from afar.
