After a decade of failing to get Star Trek 4 off the ground, Paramount Pictures is opting for a full reboot of the beloved sci-fi franchise. In November 2025, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves director Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley were hired to direct the next entry in the Star Trek film series. So far, the only details released are that it will focus on a new cast of characters and will not be set in the Kelvin timeline. Now the directing duo has offered insight into what films have inspired their take on Star Trek.
Speaking with The Playlist to promote their latest movie, Mayday, Goldstein and Daley touched upon their plans for Star Trek. “Our approach is to really look at it from a question of, what is this institution of Starfleet that’s at the heart of Star Trek, and what would happen if all is not well in that institution? The movie that we talk about as the comp is Training Day,” said Goldstein. Daley then added, “And Crimson Tide. Those are the two that we sort of used as our spiritual benchmarks.”
Training Day is a 2001 crime thriller that stars Ethan Hawke as an LAPD narcotics officer who is assigned to train under Detective Alonzo Harris, played by Denzel Washington, as they spend a day patrolling the streets of Los Angeles. Crimson Tide, which also stars Denzel Washington, is a 1995 political thriller directed by Tony Scott that focuses on a clash between the seasoned commanding officer of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine (Gene Hackman) and his new executive officer (Washington), stemming from conflicting interpretations of missile launch reports.
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The cast of Star Trek BeyondParamount
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Denzel Washington in Crimson TideWalt Disney Pictures
It’s interesting that both Training Day and Crimson Tide inspired Goldstein and Daley for Star Trek. While the obvious similarity between the two movies is that they star Denzel Washington, they also center on conflicts between two figures: one a jaded, seasoned veteran portrayed as the antagonist, and the other a youthful, optimistic voice who becomes disillusioned by power structures. That certainly hints at a more confrontational dynamic between Captain and First Officer than what audiences associate with the likes of Kirk and Spock. Regarding their plans, Goldstein said:
“We’re less focused on, like, what continuity we’re in, which timeline. It’s more about how do we bring this franchise to audiences that don’t necessarily consider themselves Trekkies? What can we do that hasn’t been done before?”
The idea of a Starfleet that might have lost its way is nothing new to the franchise, and was a major subplot of Star Trek Into Darkness. Yet this comparison to films like Training Day and Crimson Tide promises a potentially darker take on Star Trek than any film has done before. This angle lets the movie explore and deconstruct many of Starfleet’s foundational elements, as well as the franchise itself.
Cast
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelley, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, Sonequa Martin-Green, Anson Mount, Jeri Ryan, Holly Hunter
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Star Trek Beyond