All Trekkies know that the biggest difference between the “regular” Star Trek timeline and the one in the rebooted films is all about lens flare James T. Kirk’s father — George Kirk — dying on the USS Kelvin while trying to hold off an attack from Romulans who accidentally time traveled from the 24th century. But since the release of 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, rumors and outright press releases from Paramount Pictures have indicated that George Kirk would somehow return for a new film. And now, it looks like that meeting could happen without time travel.
At the Calgary Expo in late April, actress Jennifer Morrison — who played Jim Kirk’s mom, Winona Kirk, in the 2009 reboot Trek movie — referred to the death of George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) as a “supposed death.” And, jokingly said “just saying,” indicating she might know something about that notion of Hemsworth returning as George Kirk. Several outlets have since picked up on these comments when a video was published online of Morrison speaking about Star Trek. And if Morrison knows something, then it could totally mean time travel won’t be needed for George Kirk to meet his son, Jim Kirk. Instead, it sounds like Chris Hemsworth would just need a ton of old-man makeup.
The destruction of the USS Kelvin created a "new" timeline in J.J. Abrams's 'Star Trek' (2009)
If true, there are a few questions. The first is: which Star Trek movie will this even happen in? The new one that is definitely being directed by S.J. Clarkson, or the “other one” that is maybe, possibly being directed by Quentin Tarantino? If it’s the former, then it stands to reason this has something to do with Simon Pegg and Doug Jung’s old script. But, if it’s the Tarantino project, well, that’s just wild.
The second big question is more nerdy: how the hell did George Kirk survive the attack on the USS Kelvin? Plus, if he did, where has he been hanging out this whole time? If Hemsworth really returns to the role, he’ll have to rock some pretty crazy old-man make-up. Unless of course, for some reason, George Kirk was placed in suspended animation. Which, is a trick Star Trek loves. In fact, though cryonics wasn’t a thing back in 1966, the origin story for the Trek supervillain, Khan (Ricardo Montalban), involves suspended animation. This origin story was also true when Khan was rebooted in Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013, where he was played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Notably, Khan, and all his cryonic tech survived that specific movie.
This makes the real question somewhat more ridiculous. Will the next Star Trek movie reunite Cumberbatch and Hemsworth before or after they appear together in another Marvel movie?
Because if George Kirk AND Khan return, this is going to be one Star Trek party no one wants to miss. - There is no release date yet for any of the new Star Trek films. UPDATE: Jennifer Morrison clarified her comments in an Instagram post on Monday. She said she was joking around: “I have no idea what they are planning for the next Star Trek. I’ve never talked to anyone involved with the project. I’m excited to watch and see how it turns out just as much as all the other fans.”
