Apparently figuring that it’s never too soon to start stoking the fires for a franchise’s next installment—even if the previous film hasn’t actually, y’know, come out—Star Trek reboot mastermind J.J. Abrams has announced that Chris Hemsworth will be returning to the franchise for the follow-up to Star Trek Beyond. For those of you with hazy memories of Star Trek (2009), Hemsworth briefly appeared in the movie as George Kirk, father of James, who lasted just long enough to pass on his “Handsome Chris” genetics to his son (Chris Pine) before Eric Bana could blow him to bits.
Abrams didn’t specify how George Kirk would be returning from the grave—it’s Star Trek, so you can probably take your pick from flashbacks, time travel, magical bullshit resurrection blood, or the always popular holodeck malfunction—but he did seem pretty excited to confirm that the Thor and Ghostbusters star would be returning to the films. If nothing else, it suggests that there’s still a lot of long-term planning and confidence going on behind the scenes of the rebooted franchise, presumably buoyed by the decent-ish reviews Beyond is getting, courtesy of critic screenings ahead of its July 22 release.