the industry

Kirk and Spock Will Not Die in Star Trek 3, Will Live to See Star Trek 4

Stayin’ alive. Photo: Zade Rosenthal/Paramount Pictures

According to The Hollywood Reporter, both Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto have signed on for Star Trek 4, despite the fact that Star Trek 3 has just started filming. THR says the move was a condition of Pine and Quinto’s huge raises for the third film, which the duo won by arguing that they are way more famous now than when they signed on for the series back in 2007. (There is also a complicated bit about California labor laws and seven-year contracts.) If nothing else, this news proves that neither Kirk nor Spock will die in Star Trek 3 — or if they do, they’ll just be brought back from the dead, a franchise-preserving move both the original film series and ST3 director Justin Lin are intimately familiar with. As Spock once said, the needs of the many executives outweigh the needs of the actor.

Kirk and Spock Will Return for Star Trek 4