Paramount had been developing a fourth installment after 2016’s Star Trek Beyond and had hoped to be in production earlier this year. But after developing a time travel-themed script that would reunite Pine's Kirk with his father (Chris Hemsworth), negotiations with the two actors fell apart in summer 2018. The studio was trying to keep costs contained but the initial deals for the actors playing the Enterprise crew had run out and new, more expensive, deals were on the table. Talks never resumed and the project was shelved.

S.J. Clarkson was attached to helm Star Trek 4 at the time and would have become the first woman in the franchise's history to direct a Trek film.

Hawley is a respected mind in the genre space and won an outstanding miniseries Emmy for Fargo's first season in 2014. A fourth season is on the way with Chris Rock in the lead. Hawley also directed the feature Lucy in the Sky, which starred Natalie Portman, and was developing a script based on the Marvel villain Doctor Doom for Fox before the studio was purchased by Disney.

Hawley will produce Star Trek 4 via his 26 Keys shingle along with Bad Robot, the production banner run by Abrams, who helmed the first two installments of this current Trek incarnation.