'Star Trek 4': Does This Pic Mean New Movie Will Be Written By 'Beyond' Team?

Star Trek Beyond, the consensus seems to agree, was good enough. Beyond was fun, in the spirit of Star Trek: The Original Series, and, most importantly, not Star Trek Into Darkness. Finally, it seemed, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions had struck the right balance of blockbuster action-adventure and Trek integrity though the box office didn’t agree). So when it was announced that Star Trek 4 would return to the rejected script for Roberto Orci’s cancelled version of the sequel (the time crunch prompting J.J. Abrams to hire Beyond director Justin Lin for a “rescue mission” to save the series), it briefly looked as if no lessons were learned. But a new photo might get your hopes up once more:

There has yet to be any context provided for this picture of Star Trek Beyond writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung, but it’s hard not to read it as an announcement of sorts: the duo will return to write (or rewrite) Star Trek 4.

We know a little about Star Trek 4 already. It will see the return of Chris Hemsworth as Kirk’s dad, George Kirk, so time travel is a near-certainty. And Paramount previously announced it would be written by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who wrote the rejected script for Star Trek 3, also reportedly about time travel. 1701 News assumes they are one and the same script.

This new pic suggests a different scenario, with Doug Jung and Simon Pegg rewriting Payne and McKay’s plotline with their proven ear for Star Trek dialogue and characterization. But until we get official confirmation, this is just speculation based on two dudes, some laptops and enough coffee to write Star Trek 4.