Link: https://trekmovie.com/2026/09/30/new-star-trek-movie-directors-talk-darker-tone-sort-of-different-timeline/

Clear as mud, where the timeline thing is concerned.

TrekMovie playing the clickbait game with the best of 'em.

No legacy characters, nobody that you’ve met before. A different time, not a different timeline per se, but it’s a little further in the future.

I don't actually think this is very ambiguous?

Daley: Entirely. No legacy characters, nobody that you’ve met before. A different time, not a different timeline per se, but it’s a little further in the future.
Goldstein: Sort of a different timeline.

Thanks for clearing that up, guys.

I will assume it will be shit until proven otherwise. I would love to be pleasantly surprised though.

I think whether or not the writers know what the word "timeline" means is the ambiguous part.

Edit/P.S.: Especially in a SF context where they're not being clear if "timeline" means "somewhere else on the established timeline" or "a new alternate one". Especially if they're going to also name drop the Kelvin timeline in the same breath.

sigh.

Especially in a SF context where they’re not being clear if “timeline” means “somewhere else on the established timeline” or “a new alternate one”.

Unfortunately, I think that ship hath sailed. The word is used to mean both things fairly interchangeably, by fans and professionals alike.

In this context, I'm pretty comfortable assuming that they're looking at a new era within the regular ol' Prime Universe.

Bookmark this now so you can make fun of me later!

Actually I completely agree with your assumption. It's just the way they can't seem to express themselves clearly about it that's getting under my skin. And if they just would do that, it might slow down the billion clickbait "Paramount is rebooting Star Trek" stories out there.

I do wonder if they're dancing around NDAs and junk like that, too - writers really don't like to talk about stuff in the early stages.

Could be. Maybe they should just, I don't know, stop talking about it then. 😂

Remember kids, the easiest way to not violate an NDA is to say nothing.

Nice to see it's not dead!

I guess it could be said that "darker" is relative. Given the kind of light hearted movies they have made before this, it could very well be just a more serious movie compared to Honor Among Thieves. Which is a great flick.

With that said, I wonder if the reason they have been so bad as explaining this movie is because Paramount are telling them to be vague. So it could also just be they suck at being vague.

TrekMovie playing the clickbait game with the best of 'em.

The guys being interviewed didn't even say they wanted to make a darker Trek, just that the story they're working on is darker than what they've done before, for whatever value that has.

What I would not give to never hear about another Star Trek film "in the works" before it actually starts filming.

kinda funny since someone had just posted on how star trek was losing its utopia thing and I piped in that they seem to want to make it gritty and dark which is kinda against the grain of the original concept.

That movie is indeed fantastic, but I don't think it has quite the tone I would want from a Star Trek movie.

I think their "Crimson Tide" comparison is pretty darned compelling. That's a serious movie with a lot of tension, but it's hardly a heavy slog.

it actually starts filming

Now you're dreaming.

And it's hardly a "dark" movie too. Dark could honestly mean series or intense.

Star Trek taught me to have hope for the future

So many fans would be happy with seeing a different crew with their own top notch Starfleet crew, involved in their own mission that, while might not be galaxy-breaking, is crucial to part of established history somehow (like how they connected Khitomer in several ways). Why do we have to keep inventing new timelines or move into the future more or new looks for canon ships?

There's hope, and then there's delusion...

Indeed, and if you look at what Daley has said about this Trek film in the past...

I think the portrayal of Starfleet and the people that work within it have always been generally idealized versions of what the future could be. 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.”

Serious, but not cynical or nihilistic.

So another admiral out to line their own pockets/get revenge story where the crew have to realise this legendary figure is in fact a total arse and needs to be removed from this dimension immediately?

Because it's difficult to write things that mesh with things that already exist.

We already see, time after time, some storyline that requires some new and novel solution that we never ever hear from ever again.

If I might go to Star Wars for an analogy - there's different opinions out there, but for me, Rogue One was pretty good. Andor was jsut about the best series of any genre I've seen. Watching Rogue One after Andor was....... weird.

Trying to see them back-fill stuff into Strange New Worlds is weird. It's mostly fun, but it's better when they sort of ignore that part of the storyline. (Although they get a bit silly, which is also annoying to me, but whatever)

Also, it's hard to build more and more tech as things supposedly advance more and more and more - and then when they do go back in time they want those fun toys so the figure out how to get them in but somehow they magically disappear again until needed later.

I'd settle for just hearing about a Star Trek film that isn't dark and edgy.

I haven't really read or seen much fan written stuff, but I wonder if they have that problem? It's easier to write your own stuff and make it work close enough, vs. getting official approval, but I have a feeling there's a lot of stories already out there over decades that would work within the established canon with some fudging. I'm sure, just like Rogue One/Andor and "rebels steal the plans", there is some older canon stuff with a line or two that could be expanded into a decent movie. It doesn't have to be a whole trilogy, although maybe that's also part of it, the studios want something they can milk for years.

Yeah, they only said it’s “sort of a different timeline” in reference to the Kelvin films. Fact is, for a good portion of the movie going public the prime timeline is a different timeline than the one they’re used to.

They only said it’s darker than the other films this pair has written… which is the likes of Spider-Man Homecoming. I wouldn’t worry about it.

The Mirror Universe still canon?

Ah yes, less optimism. Exactly what we want out of Star Trek and entertainment in general these days.

Ooooh yeah I see that they directed Honor Among Thieves (which I think was kinda awesome!) which, yeah, was hardly dark. I'm slightly more interested to see what they come up with now!

Hey how about we make a Star Trek movie that has nothing to do with and does not even resemble Star Trek. At this point just make an original movie.