Did anyone tell Star Trek’s stars that Paramount pushed the movie?

Well, the groundhog must have seen his shadow (feel free to swap for your favorite deep-cut Star Trek creature), because the forecast says we’re to go at least another year without a big-screen Star Trek. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the fourth film in J.J. Abrams’ film series, helmed by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, has been removed from Paramount’s 2023 calendar.

Word on the street is that this latest delay—of which there have been many—is a result of director Matt Shakman jumping ship to helm Fantastic Four (another long-gestating and hard-to-launch project, but one that must have better chances now that it’s part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe). In August, Paramount released a statement praising the filmmaker and saying that “we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcoming Star Trek film.”

It’s worth noting that Paramount has never, not once, had all its ducks in a row for this new Star Trek movie. Back when they announced the film—specifically touting the “original cast”—in February, none of the stars knew that the announcement was taking place or even that they were supposed to be part of it.

“Well, what’s going on with Star Trek is frankly, I don’t know,” Pine admitted in March. “When the announcement was made at the shareholders’ thing, I didn’t know that they were doing that. I don’t think anybody did.” In May, Quinto—who said he’d “love to do it”—nevertheless told THR, “I’m not really attached to it in any way until I have much more definitive certainty that it’s actually happening.”

Unfortunately, there is still no definitive certainty that it’s actually happening. Luckily for the fans, there is plenty of Star Trek happening on the small screen, with no less than five original spin-offs currently airing on Paramount+. That will have to tide everyone over until this whole big-screen situation is sorted out.