Star Trek Beyond warps into theaters on Friday, and Paramount is already confirming there will be a fourth installment in the rebooted franchise. In a press release, the studio not only confirmed the sequel but also validated rumors that Chris Hemsworth would be returning to Star Trek, reprising his role as George Kirk:
In the next installment of the epic space adventure, Chris Pine’s 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. Chris Hemsworth, who appeared in 2009’s Star Trek, will return to the space saga as George Kirk to star alongside Pine.
Hemsworth’s return is a bit unexpected, since the character was killed off 11 minutes into the first Star Trek reboot, after he sacrificed himself by deliberately colliding with a Romulan ship to save his crew (and his son). But it’s the phrasing of the studio’s press release that makes it so, dare we say, fascinating. Kirk will “cross paths” with his father, the release says, suggesting that Hemsworth’s presence will be more than a mere flashback.
In an ordinary franchise, the reappearance of Kirk’s father might be surprising, but we’re talking about Star Trek, where this kind of thing happens all the time, so here are some possible theories for how Hemsworth and Pine will meet onscreen:
- Due to a time portal, or a transporter accident, or an alien device, Kirk is sent back in time where he meets his father but cannot reveal his identity lest he compromise the timeline.
- Kirk stumbles upon an extradimensional realm where time does not exist and finds his father living peacefully away from Starfleet, having chosen instead to spend eternity raising horses.
- Despite not being Vulcan, Kirk Sr. somehow managed to initiate a mind-meld before the crash, trapping his katra in someone else’s body until it could be restored.
- George Kirk was never dead at all, just stuck in a Groundhog Day–like time loop in which he relived the day his son was born over and over again.
- McCoy still has some of Khan’s magic blood lying around from Star Trek Into Darkness, which he uses to resurrect some dead bodies, because why not?
- In a twist straight out of another franchise, Kirk realizes that his father has been alive all along, has turned evil, and is sporting a fierce-looking goatee.
Or who knows? Maybe Hemsworth will just be the Enterprise’s new receptionist.
