Over the weekend we, and a number of other sites, picked up on a curious comment Jennifer Morrison made at a Calgary Expo panel. The actress who played Winona Kirk, mother of James T. Kirk, suggested the character of George Kirk (played by Chris Hemsworth) actually survived his heroic sacrifice to save the crew of the Kelvin in 2009’s Star Trek. As Chris Hemsworth is set to return for the ‘Star Trek 4,’ project which just picked up a director, this could have offered a clue about the upcoming movie.

However, it turns out Morrison’s comment was not based on any inside info. On Instagram she clarified saying:

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.

As for why she corrected moderator Garrett Wang at Calgary Expo, and suggested that George Kirk didn’t die when he rammed the USS Kelvin into the Narada in Star Trek, the actress explains that was just an inside joke between herself and a fan. From her Instagram post:

A fan had a theoretical convo at my signing table about how they thought Chris Hemsworth’s character was still alive. I was jokingly referencing a convo with a fan when I did the interview in Calgary.

George Kirk is still dead, but coming back

So, there you have it. George Kirk is back to being dead following the events of the opening scene of the 2009 Star Trek movie. However, that still leaves open how “Star Trek 4,” will bring the character back. While an easy solution could have the film set in multiple time periods, all indications are that the film will involve Hemsworth’s George Kirk and Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk interacting with each other. The original official announcement about the film noted “Captain Kirk will cross paths with a man he never had a chance to meet, but whose legacy has haunted him since the day he was born: his father.” And the latest report from Variety added “a key plot point sees Pine’s character running into his father (Hemsworth) in a time travel ploy.”

Of course, time travel is nothing new in Star Trek and has been used in multiple Trek feature films. In fact, in 2009’s Star Trek it was Nero traveling through time via red matter in the Narada and attacking the USS Kelvin which triggered the creation alternative universe of three J.J. Abrams-produced Trek films, hence the name of “Kelvin-verse.” If time travel is the mechanism involved for ‘Star Trek 4,’ it still leaves the question of which direction: does George Kirk jump forward to Jim Kirk’s time, or vice-versa?

Stay glued to TrekMovie.com for all news, whispers and more about the future of Star Trek movies. You can keep tabs on all updates on the next movie via our Star Trek XIV category.