While promoting the release of his latest film Terminal, Simon Pegg spoke to Moviefone a bit about the two Star Trek films in development.

Inspired by hiring of Clarkson, see’s it as a sign ‘Star Trek 4’ is gearing up

While Paramount has not yet set a release date, the next Star Trek film is expected to be the follow-up to Star Trek Beyond, which was announced in the summer of 2016 and will involve Chris Hemsworth returning as George Kirk. The latest movement on that film is the recent hiring of of director S.J. Clarkson, which has Pegg feeling optimistic about the project and the hiring of Clarkson, telling Moviefone:

I’m very excited about it. It feels belated, for a start. It’s about time. I can’t wait to see what she brings to it as a director, irrespective of her gender. She’s done some fantastic work, I think her ideas are really inspirational and it feels like a perfectly timed thing. And so right that it’s “Star Trek.” Embarrassingly, in 2018, it should have happened a long time ago. I can’t wait to meet her and give myself over to her ideas.

And speaking to AP at the Terminal premiere, the actor talked more about what it’s like to have Clarkson come on board and it is a sign production is getting closer to starting:

Obviously the gender of a director shouldn’t be important, but it is a nice change of energy. It feels good, because it feels less conventional in some respects – it shouldn’t do. But, with S.J. [Clarkson] being attached to Star Trek 4, it’s something and it also means we’ve geared up again in terms of making it. That is another step towards us getting on set as well. I am super excited. I can’t wait to hang out with her.

Being kept in the dark on Quentin Tarantino Star Trek

With regards to the Star Trek project based on an idea pitched to producer J.J. Abrams by famed writer/director Quentin Tarantino, Moviefone asked Pegg if he knew if he would be involved in the film and the actor said he did not know, and noted his ignorance about the project was by design:

We don’t know anything about it. Because they know that we’ll get asked about it all the time and they protect us from ourselves. I know as much as you do. I just know that Quentin came in with an idea and I’m excited to see what fruit that bears. I know there was some kind of consternation from the fans. But he’s a devoted “Star Trek” fan and an incredibly gifted filmmaker, so I can’t think of anything more exciting than him having a crack at it.

High levels of secrecy around J.J. Abrams-produced Star Trek films is nothing new, but Tarantino’s project seems to be shrouded in even more than the usual mystery. It has been reported that the Tarantino Star Trek project would come after the Star Trek 4 film. However, the Tarantino film has been reported to be “separate” from the other Kelvin films, and possibly the start of a new series of films.

Catch all the latest news for both of these projects in our upcoming Star Trek films category.