The gamble Star Wars wouldn’t touch — Star Trek’s actually doing it

It looks like Star Trek is finally doing what its sci-fi rival should've done ages ago: chucking out the baggage, tearing up the blueprint, and starting over. Paramount's been teasing a new Star Trek film for a while now, but at SDCC 2026 they dropped the big one—it's going to be a proper reboot, with a brand new cast and not a single familiar face in sight.

Daley described it in a recent interview, saying: 'And while this [script] isn’t a cynical or nihilistic take on it, I think it does acknowledge that there are some bad apples in every institution that can have a strong voice and can really make an impact on that institution and everything it stands for.'

The pair behind this bold move are Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. You might know them from their previous work on comedies and blockbusters, but this time they're at the helm for both writing and directing. Their plan? Tell a story that looks at Starfleet itself—the machinery of exploration, heroics, and, naturally, the dodgy corners hiding within the institution. They say it's not going to get all grim and cynical, but they're not pretending things are perfect either.

This Isn't Your Dad's Star Trek

Let's be clear, when Goldstein said at Comic-Con, 'It won’t be the characters that you’ve seen previously in your Star Trek movies,' he meant it. Kirk? Spock? Anyone with a familiar name badge? Nowhere in sight. Instead we’re getting a completely fresh line-up, hopefully freeing Star Trek from decades of continuity wrestling and fan-service gymnastics. It's about time, honestly. The average punter doesn't know their Pike from their Picard, so why not open the doors for new fans altogether?

Goldstein explained at SDCC: 'So there will be a new take on that.'

If you want a sense of the vibe they're aiming for, the duo point to films like Training Day and Crimson Tide—which is, let's be honest, a decidedly intriguing direction for a Star Trek flick. Daley even mentioned it’ll 'take place almost in real time,' suggesting a sort of gritty, tense, day-in-the-life approach rather than epic galaxy-hopping. But they're adamant it still holds to the fundamentals that give Trek its heart—just from a different angle.

Riskier Than Star Wars? Apparently

Let’s not ignore the obvious: Star Wars fans have been demanding a big-screen story that doesn't rehash the old stuff for an entire decade, and all they've got is a parade of familiar faces and the occasional nostalgia-fest. The Skywalker shadow looms over everything, and supposedly 'fresh' stories get bent out of shape until we end up back with something like 'The Mandalorian and Grogu: The Movie.' Lucasfilm can't quit their own obsessions, but this new Trek team is actually going for broke.

• A new Star Trek movie is set for release under Goldstein and Daley
• Rebooted cast—zero legacy characters featured
• The plot will examine the good and bad of Starfleet as an institution
• Tonally takes cues from Training Day and Crimson Tide
• Last Star Trek film release was back in 2016

It's a risky play, no doubt; Trek die-hards are never shy about complaining when their favourites aren’t the centre of attention. But honestly, most people aren't losing sleep over the absence of Kirk or Spock these days. The real challenge now is whether this leap actually works, which would prove that sometimes, letting go and getting bold isn’t just what Star Trek needed—it's something the whole genre could use a bit more of.